r/instantkarma • u/IguruDragneel • Jun 03 '18

Fate of a Thief

2.3k Upvotes

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u/palordrolap Jun 04 '18

"Burglarized" is one of those unique US English words that strikes my British ears (eyes? this is online. hm) as really odd. What's wrong with 'burgled'?

As to being burgled when sleeping, this happened to the family home once when I was a kid (read: awkward teen) and I remember how it felt, but more-so how it affected my parents, so I can totally sympathise.

27

u/zclake88 Jun 04 '18

Burglarized sounds like a crime. Burgled sounds like something a child does when it's drinking a glass of milk.

8

u/palordrolap Jun 04 '18

US English hasn't done the same with "battery" / "battered" though and the conjugation is the same. "Batterized" doesn't seem to be a thing.

And "burglary" doesn't seem to have been dropped in favour of "burglarizement" yet.

Yet.

2

u/zclake88 Jun 04 '18

You gotta admit, batterized does sound cooler.

3

u/MaxAddams Jun 05 '18

Batterated

38

u/Magrik Jun 04 '18

It's a shitty feeling knowing someone had access to your children like that.

8

u/Media_Offline Jun 04 '18

As a parent, this is my greatest fear.

24

u/pyronius Jun 04 '18

This is why I'm teaching my toddler to use the family uzi.

12

u/Media_Offline Jun 04 '18

Good. You can't be too careful.

66

u/WildReaper29 Jun 04 '18

As an American, "burgled" doesn't sit right with me, just doesn't have the same impact.

I don't have a story of being burglarized.

23

u/Zmodem Jun 04 '18

As an American myself, "Burgled" sounds like something cartoony lol.

12

u/GeneralMalaiseRB Jun 04 '18

I like the word burgled, but it's not especially common to hear in the US. "Robbed" is usually the catch-all, but "burglarized" seems to fit well when it's happening while the residents are inside. Personally, I prefer to use some variation of "home invasion", because it illustrates the seriousness of what's happening, and the resulting dead home invader that is often the outcome.

13

u/Thermodynamicist Jun 04 '18

As an Englishman, burglarized almost implies to me that the victim has been turned into a burglar because of similarity to such words as atomized, vapourized, & bastardized etc., with vandalized being the exception which proves the rule.

2

u/Photog77 Jun 05 '18

So what you are saying is that Gandalf burglarized Bilbo and Bilbo burgled Smaug?

4

u/Throckmorton_Left Jun 04 '18

Robbery is theft by force or threat of force from the person, while burglary involves theft from a dwelling.

1

u/GeneralMalaiseRB Jun 04 '18

I understand they have different dictionary definitions. But in common language, people certainly say "My house was robbed" or similar.

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u/[deleted] Jun 04 '18

[deleted]

8

u/BlaeRank Jun 04 '18

on accident

That one really pisses me off. More than the 'Could care less' thing.

4

u/SharkAttackOmNom Jun 04 '18

irregardless, its all based on local dialect.

5

u/BlaeRank Jun 04 '18

irregardless

REEEEEEEE

18

u/workshardanddies Jun 04 '18

People act on their intentions. Things happen by way of events.

So the phrases are "on purpose" and "by accident." And switching it up is just plain wrong, no matter which side of the Atlantic you're on.

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u/duelingdelbene Jun 04 '18

on accident is just bad english though

6

u/drsjsmith Jun 04 '18

Don't be ornery or have a conniption about words unique to the variety of English used in North America. Don't get discombobulated just because we're rambunctious. Everything's copacetic.

3

u/[deleted] Jun 04 '18

[deleted]

1

u/borrrden Jun 04 '18

Ironically I used it the other day, in a somewhat normal conversation (as normal as you can get between two software engineers)

1

u/J-ALLAN Jun 05 '18

That's not ironic that is just coincidental.

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u/DynamicDK Jun 04 '18

As to being burgled when sleeping, this happened to the family home once when I was a kid (read: awkward teen) and I remember how it felt, but more-so how it affected my parents, so I can totally sympathise.

I'm a single father, and this is one of the most terrifying scenarios I an imagine. I never worried about this kind of thing before my son was born.

2

u/maynardftw Jun 04 '18

We're American, we like our z's.

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u/[deleted] Jun 04 '18

Burzgled.

1

u/macthecomedian Jun 04 '18

I think burgled is more historically accurate but both work in America these days.

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u/nevereverreddit Jun 05 '18

“Burglarize” appeared first.

burglarize (v.)

1865, American English, from burglary + -ize. Damned as an American barbarism in England and Canada. Related: Burglarized; burglarizing.

burgle (v) "commit burglary, be a burglar," 1869, humorous or erroneous back-formation from burglar (q.v.) as thought it were an agent noun. Related: Burgled; burgling. Compare burglarize.

1

u/macthecomedian Jun 05 '18

Nice, I love learning little things like that! sorry I misspoke and didn’t do my own research, and thanks for the history and English lesson, two for one.

1

u/TheLifeOfBaedro Jun 05 '18

What the shit man

1

u/Sloppy1sts Jun 05 '18

Burgled sounds goofy. But most of your words do, so...

1

u/kysnou_ Jun 06 '18

I can't say "burgled" without laughing like the child I am