As the economy blasts away at white-collar workers as well as blue-collar ones, the newly jobless are learning an ungainly new language: How to spin their situation to other parents on the Saturday morning sidelines. How to convey nonchalance during Pinteresque pauses in the golf-club locker rooms. How to fend off inquisitive family members at Memorial Day barbecues. For so many, the loneliness is palpable. In general, middle-aged professionals seem more anxious and demoralized than younger ones; men tend to be more buttoned-up than women. Those on the sidelines are also uncomfortable, fumbling for a protocol, an etiquette to support their struggling neighbors, while also respecting their dignity.
See "The Language of Loss for the Jobless", Jan Hoffman, The New York Times, May 18, 2008