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Reader question:

What does "Plan B" mean, as in this headline: "'Do it yourself' is free trade's best 'Plan B'"?

My comments:

"Plan B" refers to an alternative to the original plan – something to fall back upon when the original plan fails. Or to use a business term, it's a "contingency plan", contingency referring to something unpredictable (and undesirable) that may happen in future, causing disruptions to your original plan.

In short, Plan B is your second option. Obviously, Plan B alludes to Plan A, the first option, the ideal course of action to take. However, "Plan A" is not as popular an idiom as Plan B. And that perhaps has something to do with the popularity of a contraceptive pill.

Plan B, you see, is also a trade mark, the name of the popular emergency contraceptive pill which was approved by American Food and Drug Administration as a prescription contraceptive in 1999. Anyone over the age of 18 can buy them over the counter (in other words, easily) in many cities in the United States.

Taken orally, Plan B is "a progestin-only emergency contraceptive designed to prevent pregnancy within 72 hours after a contraceptive accident or unprotected sex" (Medterms.com) – hence the name, and quite an apt name it is too.

Anyways, with the economy veering towards global recession, more and people are talking about Plan Bs, and usually without mentioning Plan As – presumably having long been thrown out the window.

The moral? Don't get too excited about planning ahead, lest you may end up with nothing but a bunch of changed plans.

Or Plan Bs.

Joking aside, here are media examples:

1. General Motors Corp., asking for as much as $18 billion to keep afloat and survive even worse economic storms, painted the direst portrait to date of what could happen if Congress doesn't quickly step in.

"There isn't a Plan B," said Chief Operating Officer Fritz Henderson. "Absent support, frankly, the company just can't fund its operations." Without help, the company warned, "the company will default in the near term, very likely precipitating a total collapse of the domestic industry and its extensive supply chain, with a ripple effect that will have severe, long-term consequences to the U.S. economy."

- Ford tells Congress it may be able to go it alone, AP, December 2, 2008.

2. PREPARATIONS for the 2010 Soccer World Cup are well on schedule and the reported "plan B" is dead, Danny Jordaan, CEO of the local organizing committee, said yesterday.

"You didn't call a funeral, but I know plan B is dead," said Jordaan of reports that the event might be moved to Australia.

- World Cup 'plan B' is dead, Businessday.co.za, December 11, 2008.

3. The economy is not just affecting people who are already out of work; those who are worried their jobs might be in jeopardy also are experiencing sleeplessness, compromised immune systems, irritability and other precursors to depression.

The best advice Brady said is todevise a "Plan B." By figuring out a plan of action, if you are out of work or think you could be, an action plan can help people feel more in control of their lives.

"Many times if people can start to implement what Plan B is, you don't have that gerbil on a spinning wheel situation, because you are moving a little bit into an action stage, even if you don't have to implement it," he said. "Just knowing precisely what it is, allows the mind to slow down enough to enjoy staying in the present."

- To combat depression, devise a Plan B, The Pulse-Journal, December 11, 2008.

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About the author:

Zhang Xin is Trainer at chinadaily.com.cn. He has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for potential use in a future column.