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Comment by airhead969 | Hacker News Reader

They don't know the meaning of poor. And, who cares about some absolutely privileged, greedy, manipulative idiots who "can't live" on $200k/yr and take from people who make way less than them. Shame on them!

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If you can count your money, you're poor.

If you can count your money and it fits in your pockets, you're very poor.

If you can count your money and it fits in your left pocket with room to spare, you're extremely poor.

If you're wondering whether to buy food or gas with the money you have left, you're broke.

If you wish you could buy food or gas, you're absolutely destitute.

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I always thought of “broke” as the transitory status of not having money, while “poor” is a socioeconomic status.

I.e. a university student could be too broke to buy beer before their next stipend comes in, but that doesn’t make them poor if they can still go home and drive mom & dad’s Tesla on the weekend.

I think of those words interchangeably. "Poor" is also ambiguous, i.e., "the poor" (economic class status) and "are poor" (having little money, orthogonal to any time period). Examples: "My grandparents grew-up poor, but became middle-class." and "Alms for the poor."

And, there are only so many relative modifiers, so one has to use synonyms to make a point. ;)

I still think the meanings are distinct. For instance, you could say: "I can't get a home loan because I'm poor", "I qualify for food stamps because I am poor", but attributing these things to being broke sounds a bit funny. By the same token, you wouldn't say "My grandparents grew up broke, but became middle-class"

Context changes the meaning as you rightfully point out.

Being a broke college student and being a broke adult are wildly different in almost every respect.

I think the definition still holds up fine. The main difference between being a broke adult vs a broke college student is that being broke as an adult is almost always because you're poor.

Not really. You could be pulling down $500k a year but have such a high spend rate that you frequently run out of money before your next paycheck.

Do you sincerely believe those situations are similar?

Exercise - you could pick Broke College Student, Broke Adult, Broke doctor/engineer/lawyer pulling 500k/yr.

Which one do you choose, repeatedly?

To me, there is almost no scenario where 500k/yr makes you actually broke where you do not have a level of control to rapidly change that situation. Cut your spending, if you have huge debts - get them refinanced, sell something. Aside from being in a debt to a person with a literal gun to your head, you have incredible amounts of flexibility to get out from having your water shut off like person who is truly broke.

A broke doctor is a broke adult, so not exactly sure what distinction you're making.

Broke = no money at the moment.

Poor = chronically broke.

Saw a documentary in which social strata is classified by the means of transportation you are able to afford.

The first level is not a car, but shoes. Then comes a bicycle. Then comes a motorized bicycle. Then comes a car.

Not having gas for your car is just the beginning of the abyss.

How much money can you fit in your pockets if they're Benjamins?

My estimate, based on the approximate dimensions of my jeans front pocket and the size and thickness of a $100 bill, would be around 5~8 thousand dollars... Multiple times that if you REALLY stuff it in there...

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