Learned this one in a graduate economics course: This term was first used to refer to an economic downturn by one of the US presidents in the years after WWII (I forget which one). As the post-war economy began to slump, there became talk that the US might be entering into another depression -- the Great Depression was still in recent memory for many people. The president, attempting to alleviate this growing panic, addressed the nation and said, "There is no need to worry. This is NOT another depression. This is merely a recession." In short, he simply pulled a friendlier-sounding term out of thin air in order to calm the people down. Today, we now have a "recession" that means something different from a "depression"; although getting economists to agree on exact definitions still remains a challenge.

submitted by Will

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