Nancy Matos

Reader Question: Chrysler worker: “[The] roller coaster isn't over for us.”

Could you explain “roller coaster”?

My comments: Literally, a roller coaster is an amusement park ride, one of the more thrilling ones you will find at a park like Disneyland, and usually the one that attracts the longest queues. It consists of a car on a track, usually seating two people, that goes up and down the narrow metal track, through loops and sharp turns, sometimes very fast and even upside down!

When you think of the chaotic and turbulent path that a roller coaster takes, you can imagine what an apt metaphor it makes for life. In the case of the Chrysler worker in the above quote, he/she is saying that the roller coaster pertaining to the job and the state of the company is not over yet. It is a way of saying that a situation is out of control, going in several unpleasant and worrying directions, etc.

If you have been following the news lately, you will know that Chrysler, along with most of the American automobile industry, has been going through dire financial times, as a result of the global economic crisis. They have filed for bankruptcy and several employees are out of work, creating a financial and emotional “roller coaster” for thousands of people.

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Nancy Matos is a foreign expert at China Daily Website. Born and raised in Vancouver, Canada, Nancy is a graduate of the Broadcast Journalism and Media program at the British Columbia Institute of Technology. Her journalism career in broadcast and print has taken her around the world from New York to Portugal and now Beijing. Nancy is happy to make the move to China and join the China Daily team.