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"Robbery" is often used when force isn't involved. If the object is stolen while you're nearby, people will often refer to it as a robbery. Outfielders rob ba
by shrughes 14y ago
"Robbery" is often used when force isn't involved. If the object is stolen while you're nearby, people will often refer to it as a robbery. Outfielders rob batters of home runs all the time.
The word "rob" is particularly useful because lets the victim be used as the direct object. If you want to emphasize RMS as a victim of personal theft, that's the verb to use.
- Turing_Machine 14y agoSome people may use it that way but that doesn't make it right. The baseball example is a figure of speech, not a description of an actual crime. This was a real crime.
- duaneb 14y agoI'm pretty sure peoples' use of the word is the definition of how it is used.
- tikhonj 14y agoI think that's fine in general. However, in this case, "robbery" is basically being used as a technical legal term describing a particular crime. It's a little bit like calling every laptop a macbook (except there's no trademarks involved).
- pemulis 14y agoThe words have a specific technical meaning in this case, so it's important to use them correctly. A robbery and a simple theft are treated very differently under the law. Prescriptive grammar is the only way to go when you're dealing with a technical system built out of ordinary language, like law or programming.