Timeline for What is the difference between stealing and robbing?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
8 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Dec 20, 2023 at 0:29 | comment | added | James K | @mattdm Actually my notion is that the "with/without violence" distinction between theft and robbery is part of natural speech. It certainly is part of mine. I recognise in my answer that there is some variation here, and using "rob" as a synonym of "steal" is done. But I think the distinction does exist, and not only in the technical or legal language. | |
| Dec 19, 2023 at 19:38 | comment | added | mattdm | I think this answer perpetuates a common misconception about jargon — that some technical (in this case, legal) use of a term is the "true" or "right" meaning of a word, and that common English use of the same term more broadly or in other ways is "wrong. The word "rob" has been used as a synonym for "steal" since before the 13th century — see Merriam-Webster's usage note. But, this isn't legal.stackexchange.com! | |
| Dec 18, 2023 at 17:50 | comment | added | JimmyJames | In the US, 'her purse was robbed' strongly implies that the purse was not stolen but some of its contents were. It's similar to someone saying that their 'house was robbed' when it was technically burglarized. | |
| Dec 17, 2023 at 15:11 | comment | added | Michael Harvey | @JamesK - I mainly think of 'rob' for 'steal' as mainly North West England, particularly around Merseyside, also as a noun (informally, they may 'go on the rob'). | |
| Dec 17, 2023 at 8:14 | comment | added | Kate Bunting | Since the Americans use purse for what I would call a handbag, it could conceivably mean that money was stolen out of her purse (without taking the bag itself). | |
| Dec 17, 2023 at 7:51 | comment | added | James K | You do see examples of that. Wiktionary marks this as British slang. But I see use of it in fairly formal contexts. Don't use "rob" to mean "steal" if you don't want to (but accept that other people might) | |
| Dec 17, 2023 at 7:42 | comment | added | Englishy | If so, money can be "robbed"? how about this sentence: He robbed the money. I feel this very odd... | |
| Dec 17, 2023 at 7:15 | history | answered | James K | CC BY-SA 4.0 |