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