Its continue dormancy, the inability to put it out of its misery, is even worse.

FORBES: Anderson, Indiana's Once-Mighty Wigwam Gym: Still Dead

It is the Japanese, awakening from a decade of dormancy, who are the early adopters of the wireless Web.

FORBES: The Web Phone Evangelist

Delaware amended its unclaimed-property law in 2008 to, among other things, reduce the dormancy period for securities accounts to three years from five years and change the criterion for abandonment from returned mail to inactivity.

WSJ: State Governments Eye 'Inactive' Broker Accounts

Bank of America ( BAC - news - people ) aims its bank- card pitch at employers who buy them in bulk as staff gifts. (BofA declined to comment on whether employers receive a discount rate for buying scads of cards at a time.) There's no dormancy fee with BofA's product, but after nine months the cards become worthless, whatever the remaining balance is.

FORBES: Holiday Shopping