envious/jealous

Yes, there is a distinction between these two, although it's slight. Can you be jealous of your neighbor's new car? Not in the correct grammatical sense.

You can't be jealous of it because you didn't have it in the first place. Huh? If it's not yours, you can't be "jealous" of it. You're "envious" of it. You can certainly be jealous that your boyfriend/girlfriend or husband/wife has a fondness for members of the opposite sex. That's assuming, of course, that the boyfriend/girlfriend or husband/wife is already yours. I guess you have to make that determination. You know your situation better than I do.

To put it in simpler terms, you're "envious" of the neighbor's car but not "jealous" of it. It's his, for heaven's sake. You're "jealous" that your dog seems to greet your neighbor more warmly than he greets you. Maybe it's because he has a new car. I'm not sure.

Anyway, there is your difference. Make sense? I think I'll kick back and take the rest of the day off. Envious?