In a song (The Troubles by U2), there is this:
Somebody stepped inside your soul
Somebody stepped inside your soul
Little by little they robbed and stole
Till someone else was in control
I was curious about this line:
Little by little they robbed and stole
It made me wonder whether there was any (subtle?) difference between robbing and stealing?
Regarding the primary meaning, there's probably no semantic difference worth noting, so OP's example is effectively tautological repetition for stylistic purposes. In terms of actual usage, note that "to rob" is becoming increasingly less common - so if you're unsure which to use, go for "to steal" by default. The main syntactic difference is probably best illustrated by...
1: I robbed my brother's wife
2: I stole my brother's wife
...where the meaning of #1 is I [illegally, secretly] took something from my brother's wife, whereas #2 means I [illegally, secretly] took my brothers wife - probably, from my brother. That's to say, the "direct object" of to rob is usually the owner of whatever you took illicitly, whereas the direct object of to steal is always the thing illicitly taken.
The above distinction has clear implications for passive constructions...
3: I was robbed
4: I was stolen
...where #3 means someone illegally took something from me (or colloquially and slightly more figuratively, circumstances prevented me from getting what I should have been entitled to). And the somewhat unlikely #4 would mean I personally was illicitly acquired (I was treated like "property").
EDIT: There's a good point in @kasperd's comment above - rob more strongly evokes the existence of a victim. Often, the victim of a robbery is forcibly divested of possessions - usually they're at least aware they've been robbed. But stealing is often far less noticeable to the victim. Thus, given...
5: Tom robbed the bank yesterday
6: Dick stole from the bank yesterday
...we're naturally inclined to imagine Tom held the bank up at gunpoint, and is now either in prison or on the run. But we probably assume Dick committed some kind of "white-collar crime" (maybe a computer-based book-keeping fraud) that might not yet (or ever) be noticed by the bank.
TL;DR: If someone robs you, you usually know it, but if they steal from you, you might not.
According to the legal dictionary at lectlaw.com, the technical, legal definition of "steal" is that it is the general term for any unlawful taking of another person's property, while "rob" specifically means taking by violence or threat of violence. So I believe @kasperd is correct when speaking in technical, legal terms.
By the way, another law dictionary I checked explained that "burglary" is stealing by making unlawful entry, i.e. you break into someone's home or business to take their property; "embezzlement" is stealing from one's employer; etc. There are many kinds of stealing.
In common use among non-lawyers, I think "rob" and "steal" are used as synonyms, except for the syntactical distinction of the objects that others have noted.
Side note: There are many words that have technical definitions used within a profession, and common definitions used in ordinary speech. It is not wrong to use the common definition when speaking outside the technical circle. Every now and then I'll be in a conversation where someone uses such a non-technical definition and then someone else says, "no, no, you weren't robbed; maybe you were the victim of a larceny, but it wasn't a robbery as no violence was involved." Not only are such people tedious and annoying, but they are wrong. Lots of words have more than one definition, and to say that someone who uses a word in the sense of definition 2 from the dictionary is using the word incorrectly because the REAL definition is definition 1 is just silly. A software developer's definition of "protocol" and a diplomat's definition of "protocol" are very different, but neither is "right" or "wrong" of themselves.
They are used in slightly different contexts. In describing the object we would say:
"The car was stolen." rather than "The car was robbed."
Also we could say:
"The car was stolen from me."
In describing the victim or business or location we would say:
"The cashier was robbed." rather than "The cashier was stolen."
Similarly: "The house was robbed or the bank was robbed."
The intransitive verb "to rob" generally means essentially "to commit robbery". What makes robbery a serious crime is not the value of the item stolen, but the use or threat of violence against the victim. If a mugger attacks someone who has nothing of value, the mugger would not have "stolen" anything, but would nonetheless have "robbed" the person.
I'm not familiar with the song in question; it's entirely possible the wording was chosen to fit the music. Were I to encounter the indicated text in prose, however, I would interpret the use of "robbed and stole" to suggest that they repeatedly took things of moderate value--not always using force, but not deterred by the need for it. Just saying "robbed" would ignore the fact that some items were likely taken by stealth or surprise, while just saying "stole" would ignore the use of violence in acquiring other items.
It should be noted that when used as a transitive verb with an object that is not a person and would not by implication generally contain one, the term "rob" may be used to indicate the use of forcible actions against the object to gain illegitimate access to the contents thereof, whether or not anything was actually stolen. Generally, to rob an inanimate object is to commit burglary against it, though legal definitions of burglary can vary significantly.
Additionally, the term "rob" may be used somewhat informally as a transitive verb with a human subject in cases where the human subject was traumatized by the theft, even if the thief was long gone by the time the theft was noticed. Such usage would be especially common in cases where the details of what was taken is less important than the insecurity implied by the taking. If someone who had been carrying an expensive-looking but broken and worthless item set it down and turned his back on it for a moment while tying his shoes, and someone else took the item, the former person might, at least informally, say he was robbed. Even though in fact nothing of value was stolen, the action of the thief would still cause distress for the person from whom the item was taken since it would imply that the area was not safe.
Stealing is, in general, taking something that's not yours, whereas robbery is taking something from somebody. If I take your wallet from you, at gunpoint, that's robbery. If I take your bicycle from your garage when you're not there, it's not robbery. They're both stealing.
The German language distinguishes between "Raub" (robbery) and "Diebstahl" (stealing). While the latter describes the act of taking away the belongings of someone else the former describes an act of taking something by someone with the application (or threat) of violence. To my understanding it's pretty much the same in English (please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robbery).
Hence if you sneaked up and took the wallet from someones bag it would be stealing, but if you threatened the person with a knife to get hold of the wallet it would be robbery.
FumbleFingers is mostly right on this, but there's a bit of missing information.
A robbery is a type of theft that happens in plain sight of the victim and/or onlookers. The "thief" is fully aware and prepared to be seen committing the act. Due to some quirks in the way we use the word, a robbery is not always an illegal act. For instance: when a company starts price gouging because they're the "only game in town", or when a business charges premium prices for a sub-par product, they are said to be "robbing their customers blind." In almost any common/modern use of the word "robbing" it usually means "taking more than you are reasonably due", irrespective of the means. This is why "robbery" is falling out of use when referring to illegal acts of theft.
In contrast, stealing almost always refers to an act of theft performed without the immediate knowledge of the victim. This is the primary reason why stealing is more focused on the item(s) stolen than robbery. Where with robbery, the victim is fully aware of being victimized as the event is happening and forms a personal connection to the act, a victim of stealing will not even notice until the stolen item has been discovered as missing. In that situation, the focus goes more toward the item stolen than toward the victim. This also explains why robbery (at least the illegal kind) often implies the use or threat of violence.
To make it easy, just think of robbing and stealing like mugging and pick-pocketing, respectively. I don't think you'll ever hear someone yell out that they've been "robbed" by a pick-pocket or "stolen from" by a mugger. Robbery requires an interaction between the "thief" and the victim where the victim begrudgingly or forcibly cooperates with the "thief". Stealing only requires a reasonably skilled, surreptitious action by the thief.
You tend to steal specific things during a robbery. You steal a car. You steal The Constitution. You steal the lady's heart. Stealing is an act performed on the things you steal. Robbery is an act you perform on the victim. So you rob a stereo and steal the CD inside. You rob a car and steal its stereo. You rob a garage and steal a car.
A robbery tends to involve taking a lot of small things. You rob a store or a bank for the cash behind the counter. You rob a pedestrian of their cell phone (although this specific robbery is known as a mugging).
This is compared to a heist, which is a more elaborate robbery. A bank heist would involve technology, distractions for the guards, perhaps some explosives, etc. You'll get more for a heist, but there's a lot more moving parts so it's harder to pull off than a robbery. A heist also usually has a specific target. Sure if you can pick up a few other jewels while you're in the vault, why not, but you're here for the Blue Macguffin Diamond.
Now, when it comes to stealing versus robbery specifically, stealing is associated with the word thievery which implies a certain amount of subterfuge. Slipping things quietly into your bag, pickpocketing, taking things exposed and unprotected would be described as stealing, while robberies tend to be more brazen. A robbery might use a ski mask to protect the identity, but the more elaborate forms of stealing tend to use fake ids, established alibis, etc.
I saw all three Oceans' movies, so I'm pretty much an expert on this. That's how it works, right? RIGHT?
In the usage that I've encountered, "to steal" refers to the things taken specifically. "To rob" refers to the person or place from which the things were taken.
For example, if someone said, "That man robbed my food cart," people would assume that the man took various things from the cart - money, food - but left the cart in place. They may have been taken by intimidation or just casually grabbed. On the other hand, if someone said, "That man stole my food cart" then the food cart is entirely gone.
Or a conversation might go like this -
"I'm upset. My house got robbed last night."
"Did you lose much?"
"Not really, they only stole a microwave oven and a boombox."
In the case of the conversation, the house is still there just some of its contents were removed.
it's really hard to say... maybe a couple other lines from the song will help you decide. it's my understanding, that when you rob someone, it is done with their full knowledge that it is happening. stealing from someone is done in secret. You break into someone's house while they are on vacation and "steal" everything valuable. when they get home and notice what happened, they run back outside screaming that they were "robbed" but it's too late by then. the knowledge that it is happening, would be my "definition of the difference."
Whenever I find myself wondering about some lyric's deep meaning, I go back to McCartney:
“Somebody said to me, ''But the Beatles were anti-materialistic.'' That's a huge myth. John and I literally used to sit down and say, ''Now, let's write a swimming pool.''”
Bono has a swimming pool, and a tennis court.
When it comes down to it, The Troubles is many peaceful evenings' worth of rich, filling meals and French wine away from Sunday Bloody Sunday. Maybe U2 forgot what The Troubles really were.
