Quiz: "ailing" or "infirm"?

The correct answer is:ailing

The Swedish carmaker Saab was unable to find a buyer for the ailing business. It has filed for bankruptcy.

Both adjectives can be used to talk about somebody who is sick, but only ailing is used in a figurative sense to talk about companies or the economy.

ailing = kränkelnd, kränklich
infirm = schwach, gebrechlich

Saab Chief Executive Victor Muller told reporters at the company's base in Sweden on Monday that it was the blackest day of his business career. Muller, a Dutch entrepreneur, had acquired Saab from General Motors (GM) in January 2010 for $74 million in cash and $326 million in preferred shares. GM, however, kept ownership of key technology patents and licences. The bankruptcy comes as no surprise, as Saab had been in financial difficulty for many months. The carmaker had already stopped production in April 2011 after suppliers, which make up most of Saab’s creditors, stopped delivering parts and components because of unpaid bills. Muller, however, had been close to signing a deal with Chinese carmaker Zhejiang Youngman Lotus Automobile that could have saved the company from bankruptcy. GM blocked the deal because it did not want another company to have access to its technology.

“G.M. said over the weekend that whatever happens, come hell or high water, we won’t support a deal with Youngman,” Muller told The New York Times.