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Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco President Janet Yellen made headlines Tuesday for stating during a speech that the country's economic recovery would look something like an "L."

Yellen said high unemployment would linger "for several years to come" and that the recovery would be "well short of good times," according to the Associated Press account.

In a remark that may have made her penmanship teacher cringe, Yellen said the recovery would look like an "L," with the base gradually tilting up.

To us, an "L-shaped recovery" sounds pretty stark. In fact, taken literally, it means that there won't be a recovery at all.

This wasn't the first time we've heard economic recovery forecasts framed in capital letters. Hours of airtime have been filled on business news channels on whether the recovery will be an "M" (double-dip recession) a "U" (bump along the bottom for a while and then recover) or a "V" (straight growth following the downturn).

Here are six letters that haven't yet gotten their due:

The A: Policy makers build a bridge back to the good times, only to see another sharp fall after a rapid rise.

The D: Economy goes right back up from whence it came, moves flat for a while, and then slowly retreats back down to the bottom.

The O: Efforts to revive the economy work, bringing it around full circle. But then the pattern repeats.

The Y: Just as economists who predicted the "V" start congratulating themselves, the economy slides right back down and continues to fall from there.

The Z: Zigzagging ahead, then violently backward, then forward again in a snooze pattern.

And last, the I: Straight down, like Wile E. Coyote stepping off a cliff. Don't want that one.

--Bill Freehling