On 26/11/2011 22:23, Lieutenant Scott wrote:

snip

Envious is what you may be when you haven't something that somebody
else has. "I'm envious of John because of his gorgeous wife" sort of
thing.

Jealous is that you want to keep something to yourself (think - "a
jealously-guarded trade secret").

I've only ever heard jealous used in your first example in place of
envious.

If you have any doubt about the real meaning of any word you could
always consult a dictionary. If words get abused by casual indifference
to their established meanings then language loses its ability to
discriminate between different situations. For instance frequently seen
these days is the use of disinterested when what is meant is
uninterested and as for niggardly ...

In the cited example its seems to me that envious is the correct word to
use but if you look at the situation from John's perspective any close
attention paid to John's wife could well make him jealous.

--
Roger Chapman