4 ms·

> socially we could agree to use the word "theft" to also include software/media piracy, but I personally don't think we should Do you personally feel that wag

by cxr 5y ago

> socially we could agree to use the word "theft" to also include software/media piracy, but I personally don't think we should Do you personally feel that wage theft isn't theft? Same hypothetical, except the cherries Joe picks aren't actually Joe's—they're Jill's. Jill owns some farmland where cherries grow, and she lets people pick them. They do so on the premise that cherry pickers get paid by Jill on Tuesdays. Joe moves to town and picks cherries there all week and then hands them over. Jill says "thanks" and then slams the door in Joe's face. Does this fail to meet the threshold for the appropriate use of the word "theft"? Joe has not had anything taken from him[1]—certainly not any physical property[2] he could do anything else with or ever plausibly argue "That's mine" to anyone willing to lend a sympathetic ear—because the cherries were never his.[3] 1. 30e7f23b81e476dd7afc8f4e23401aed004567526f8dc58ca97fc3339fe5d2bf 2. d38b2ef315ebb47a44a28abf7884c7fecf05b11f0d34a875fffc89ce4f955e81 3. 188e9eee6f835b8a6bd2f927de75006cd87215d10dee9a0225e320f3ee6d4b65

purjolok 5y ago
Indeed, calling the fact not paying an employee's a type of theft seems to be an originally English idiom¹. In other languages it's more akin to an unpaid debt or a breach contract rather than stolen property. Intuitively, to have something stolen one needs to have gained ownership of it in the first place. (And being owed something is not the same as owning it.) P.S.: What's with the hashes? ¹. It seems to also be used in Spanish, but mostly in an American context as a calque from English.
dahauns 5y ago
Not a native speaker and NAL, but why would anyone call this "theft"? If anything (assuming that the premise was agreed upon by both parties, of course), I'd call that defalcation, embezzlement, or simply fraud. But as you laid out yourself, this doesn't fit any definition of theft.

by cxr 5y ago

purjolok 5y ago

Indeed, calling the fact not paying an employee's a type of theft seems to be an originally English idiom¹. In other languages it's more akin to an unpaid debt or a breach contract rather than stolen property. Intuitively, to have something stolen one needs to have gained ownership of it in the first place. (And being owed something is not the same as owning it.) P.S.: What's with the hashes? ¹. It seems to also be used in Spanish, but mostly in an American context as a calque from English.

dahauns 5y ago

Not a native speaker and NAL, but why would anyone call this "theft"? If anything (assuming that the premise was agreed upon by both parties, of course), I'd call that defalcation, embezzlement, or simply fraud. But as you laid out yourself, this doesn't fit any definition of theft.