“We’ve been robbed!” This is a line we all hear from movies and television shows when characters return home to find a shattered door jamb and their belongings upended, tossed everywhere willy-nilly. They really haven’t been robbed, have they? No. And not because it is a fictional show, silly!
It’s because to be robbed involves face-to-face contact with an assailant. A robber performs a robbery by confronting a victim, making demands that money or goods be handed over, therefore robbing the victim of his belongings. Situations where the bad guy is threatening he has a weapon is aggravated robbery, while brandishing a real weapon for additional threat is called armed robbery.
So then what is it called when a victim comes home to find a topsy-turvy disaster and items missing? That is when he can say, “we’ve been burgled!” (One of the neatest words in the English language!)
A burglar enters a home, taking the time to sift and sort, choosing what items he wishes to pinch. A burglar burgles. Breaking and entering, leaving before anyone notices he’s been there until it is too late.
Think of the Hamburglar. He would sneak around pilfering piles of hamburgers from unsuspecting citizens of McDonaldland. The Hamburglar burgles. Well… except in this vintage commercial, where he just plain mugs Ronald and Grimace.
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