Lcchang  +  404549 Tue, 14 Aug 07 05:05 PM Here is how the joke goes: It's a recession when your neighbor loses his job; it's a depression when you lose your own. I don't see why it is fun. Can you help? LCChang Lcchang Joined on Mon, Feb 27 2006 Northern Taiwan Contributing Member 1,078 Life will never end. Jokes

	Clive  +  404558 Tue, 14 Aug 07 05:24 PM Hi, Here is how the joke goes: It's a recession when your neighbor loses his job; it's a depression when you lose your own. I don't see why it is funny. Can you help? It's playing with the fact that the word 'depression' can have two meanings here. 1. An economic meaning. (a period when the economy slumps). 2. A personal meaning (a person's emotions slump, they feel hopeless and sad). Part of the humour is also that I take my job loss more personally than I take my neighbour's job loss. Do people in your culture make jokes about serious topics, like losing your job or even death? In my culture, we do. It is often called 'black humour', and it is hard to understand if it is not part of your native culture. Best wishes. Clive Clive Joined on Thu, Oct 28 2004 Canada Veteran Member 29,668 El tango argentino es un pensamiento triste que se puede bailar (The tango argentino is a sad thought which can be danced) Enrique Santos Discépolo Jokes

	Lcchang  +  404566 Tue, 14 Aug 07 05:34 PM  Clive wrote: Hi, Here is how the joke goes: It's a recession when your neighbor loses his job; it's a depression when you lose your own. I don't see why it is funny. Can you help? It's playing with the fact that the word 'depression' can have two meanings here. 1. An economic meaning. (a period when the economy slumps). 2. A personal meaning (a person's emotions slump, they feel hopeless and sad). Part of the humour is also that I take my job loss more personally than I take my neighbour's job loss. Do people in your culture make jokes about serious topics, like losing your job or even death? In my culture, we do. It is often called 'black humour', and it is hard to understand if it is not part of your native culture. Best wishes. Clive Thanks, Clive. I think that a depression is more serious than a recession, and that is the main idea the joke brings up. By the way, I got to tell you  I am a person with sense of humor too....seriously...uh...nope...I mean it.  LCChang Lcchang Jokes

	Clive  +  404586 Tue, 14 Aug 07 06:06 PM Hi, Yes, the aspect you mention is also present in the joke. Clive Clive

	Grammar Geek  +  404736 Wed, 15 Aug 07 02:18 AM It's not very funny. A recesssion is a slow down of the economy. A depression is when the economy stays bad. So when a bad thing happens to someone else, it's bad, but not terrible. When a bad thing happens to you, it's terrible. Grammar Geek Joined on Tue, Jan 10 2006 Veteran Member 19,683 Barbara, who answers in American English. My housekeeping skills attest to the truth of the second law of thermodynamics: Left to themselves, things get more and more random!

	Vorpar  +  404797 Wed, 15 Aug 07 07:52 AM It's like the Woody Allen (or is it Mel Brooks?) joke: Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when someone else falls into an open sewer and dies. Vorpar Joined on Tue, Sep 20 2005 Santa Barbara, CA Regular Member 940 Jokes

	CalifJim  +  404841 Wed, 15 Aug 07 09:10 AM The humor revolves around the idea that we feel differently about the same situation depending whether it affects us or someone else.  We express the difference in feeling by choosing different words. There are many humorous "conjugations" formed on this principle.  Not all of them are actually very funny -- mildly amusing, perhaps. I am firm. You are obstinate. He is a pig-headed fool. I am outrageously funny. You are rather mordant. He is contemptuously mocking. I am outraged at my opponent's mean-spirited insults. You are a bit sensitive. He is a weak, wish-washy whiner. I am consistent. You are the slave of your own formulas. He is a wornout hack. I am sharply critical of my opponent's dogmas. You are a tad belligerent. He is hateful. CJ CalifJim Joined on Mon, Aug 2 2004 California Veteran Member 22,463 "There are no facts, only interpretations" - Nietzsche