4 ms·

fredley looks to be from the UK, where we say "burgle" and nobody says "burglarize". Since the article is in a US publication, the use burglarize is fine, but i

fredley looks to be from the UK, where we say "burgle" and nobody says "burglarize". Since the article is in a US publication, the use burglarize is fine, but it probably looks strange to non-USians.

GordonS 10y ago
Also from the UK. Here the word 'burglarize' actually sounds quite ridiculous, like a word made up for comedy effect. Indeed, my wife just burst out laughing when I told her about 'burglarize', which she'd never heard before.
- linker3000 10y ago
  Have to agree (I'm in the UK too); horrible word. Could be worse - at least we weren't told that the person cancellized the accommodation they'd previously reservized on AirBnB.
  - cpr 10y ago
    From the US, but I agree. It's part of the "police bureaucratic mentality" to Latinize and inflate common concepts to make them sound more important (to uneducated ears, at least).
    - mikeash 10y ago
      My favorite one is always "rate of speed." It gets used everywhere in policing, apparently, but it's completely ridiculous. The whole basis of the concept of "speed" is that it's a rate!
  - fitchjo 10y ago
    Thanks for the constructive criticism, gents. Cheerio!
- wlesieutre 10y ago
  I'm from the US and it still sounds silly. Americans - You can do a similar structure with any word that has noun/verb forms if you want to imagine how dumb we sound to other English speakers. "Sure was exciting to watch Phelps swimmerize that last race!"
  - SixSigma 10y ago
    Be sure to sodomize him upon his return. A burglar burglarizes, i.e. commits the act of burglary. A sodomist sodomizes, i.e. commits the act of sodomy. I'm sure there are other examples.
    - wlesieutre 10y ago
      The "ize" suffix generally means "make something more X." Americanize, tenderize, civilize, legalize, etc. Following that pattern, I guess to burglarize something is to make it more burglared, rather than just the act of burgling it. It's a strange linguistic distinction to make. Take a house that's not burgled and make it burgled. Why we talk about it that way instead of just using the normal verb "burgled" I have no idea. You would not, to take the example from above, say that Michael Phelps had made a race more swum. You'd just say he swam it.
      - SixSigma 10y ago
        No Burglarize and burglar came before burgled.
      - colechristensen 10y ago
        >The "ize" suffix generally means "make something more X." Americanize, tenderize, civilize, legalize, etc. No it doesn't, the sense of increasing a preexisting quality is not what -ize does. It just makes verbs. To fossilize isn't to make more like a fossil; dinosaurs were alive in the beginning. To agonize is to experience and exhibit agony. To hospitalize isn't to make someone more so in a hospital, but to put them there in the first place. "burgle" isn't the normal verb, both "burgle" and "burglarize" emerged at about the same point. Two different ways of turning an old noun "burglar" into a verb.
- TillE 10y ago
  This is how Americans feel about, for example, "wheelie bin".
  - blakeyrat 10y ago
    Or British people saying they're "knackered".
- J-dawg 10y ago
  That's exactly what I thought too, I first heard the word in an Offspring song: That car looked so tempting, so easy to drive / Just like that apartment that you burglarized I thought the songwriter had invented the word to make the rhyming work. I couldn't believe it the first time I saw it in a serious context. I normally find it pretty tiresome when Brits get all snooty about Americanisms (getting rid of all those redundant 'u's was a good idea!). But "burglarized" just sounds ridiculous.
- JoeAltmaier 10y ago
  ...and that's how 'burgle' sounds to me (US)
  - smcg 10y ago
    This is what I think of whenever I hear "burgle": https://youtu.be/jN7buzYdGZ4?t=39s https://youtu.be/jN7buzYdGZ4?t=39s
  - gotchange 10y ago
    No burghul jokes yet? A burglar burgled burghul and burghul burgled by a burglar Say it three times without fumbling, you'd get a free tasty bowl of burghul.[1] [1]: http://media.rd.com/rd/images/rdc/books/cut-your-cholesterol/bulgur-wheat-and-shrimp-salad-rp.jpg http://media.rd.com/rd/images/rdc/books/cut-your-cholesterol...
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- dogecoinbase 10y ago
  Just checked the OED -- the first citation for "burglarize" is 1871, and the first citation for "burgle" is 1872. Looks like "burgle" was a back-formation from burglar corresponding to the "burgulare" of legal latin.

fredley looks to be from the UK, where we say "burgle" and nobody says "burglarize". Since the article is in a US publication, the use burglarize is fine, but it probably looks strange to non-USians.

GordonS 10y ago

Also from the UK. Here the word 'burglarize' actually sounds quite ridiculous, like a word made up for comedy effect. Indeed, my wife just burst out laughing when I told her about 'burglarize', which she'd never heard before.

linker3000 10y ago
Have to agree (I'm in the UK too); horrible word. Could be worse - at least we weren't told that the person cancellized the accommodation they'd previously reservized on AirBnB.
- cpr 10y ago
  From the US, but I agree. It's part of the "police bureaucratic mentality" to Latinize and inflate common concepts to make them sound more important (to uneducated ears, at least).
  - mikeash 10y ago
    My favorite one is always "rate of speed." It gets used everywhere in policing, apparently, but it's completely ridiculous. The whole basis of the concept of "speed" is that it's a rate!
- fitchjo 10y ago
  Thanks for the constructive criticism, gents. Cheerio!
wlesieutre 10y ago
I'm from the US and it still sounds silly. Americans - You can do a similar structure with any word that has noun/verb forms if you want to imagine how dumb we sound to other English speakers. "Sure was exciting to watch Phelps swimmerize that last race!"
- SixSigma 10y ago
  Be sure to sodomize him upon his return. A burglar burglarizes, i.e. commits the act of burglary. A sodomist sodomizes, i.e. commits the act of sodomy. I'm sure there are other examples.
  - wlesieutre 10y ago
    The "ize" suffix generally means "make something more X." Americanize, tenderize, civilize, legalize, etc. Following that pattern, I guess to burglarize something is to make it more burglared, rather than just the act of burgling it. It's a strange linguistic distinction to make. Take a house that's not burgled and make it burgled. Why we talk about it that way instead of just using the normal verb "burgled" I have no idea. You would not, to take the example from above, say that Michael Phelps had made a race more swum. You'd just say he swam it.
    - SixSigma 10y ago
      No Burglarize and burglar came before burgled.
    - colechristensen 10y ago
      >The "ize" suffix generally means "make something more X." Americanize, tenderize, civilize, legalize, etc. No it doesn't, the sense of increasing a preexisting quality is not what -ize does. It just makes verbs. To fossilize isn't to make more like a fossil; dinosaurs were alive in the beginning. To agonize is to experience and exhibit agony. To hospitalize isn't to make someone more so in a hospital, but to put them there in the first place. "burgle" isn't the normal verb, both "burgle" and "burglarize" emerged at about the same point. Two different ways of turning an old noun "burglar" into a verb.
TillE 10y ago
This is how Americans feel about, for example, "wheelie bin".
- blakeyrat 10y ago
  Or British people saying they're "knackered".
J-dawg 10y ago
That's exactly what I thought too, I first heard the word in an Offspring song: That car looked so tempting, so easy to drive / Just like that apartment that you burglarized I thought the songwriter had invented the word to make the rhyming work. I couldn't believe it the first time I saw it in a serious context. I normally find it pretty tiresome when Brits get all snooty about Americanisms (getting rid of all those redundant 'u's was a good idea!). But "burglarized" just sounds ridiculous.
JoeAltmaier 10y ago
...and that's how 'burgle' sounds to me (US)
- smcg 10y ago
  This is what I think of whenever I hear "burgle": https://youtu.be/jN7buzYdGZ4?t=39s https://youtu.be/jN7buzYdGZ4?t=39s
- gotchange 10y ago
  No burghul jokes yet? A burglar burgled burghul and burghul burgled by a burglar Say it three times without fumbling, you'd get a free tasty bowl of burghul.[1] [1]: http://media.rd.com/rd/images/rdc/books/cut-your-cholesterol/bulgur-wheat-and-shrimp-salad-rp.jpg http://media.rd.com/rd/images/rdc/books/cut-your-cholesterol...
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
dogecoinbase 10y ago
Just checked the OED -- the first citation for "burglarize" is 1871, and the first citation for "burgle" is 1872. Looks like "burgle" was a back-formation from burglar corresponding to the "burgulare" of legal latin.