Stop, Thief!
I’ve witnessed my first robbery here in Buenos Aires. I was sitting at a cafe (inside) next to the windows overlooking the sidewalk tables on a street-corner in the neighborhood of Palermo.
A nondescript young man walking by on the sidewalk snatched a purse from under one of the umbrella-covered sidewalk tables, and then ran off to a motorcycle that had just driven up to the corner and was awaiting the thief. The absconder, once he had the purse in hand, really turned on the jets and managed to execute quite a leap onto the back of the getaway motorcycle.
Stunned silence reigned in the restaurant as the two-wheeled vehicle sped off. Every woman in the place, inside and out, clutched their purses to their bodies for the rest of their meal.
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[…] or xenophobic overtones, as it recently happened between a match between… Tuesday, 17 March Stop, Thief![micheleandtom.com] I’ve witnessed my first robbery here in Buenos Aires. I was sitting at a […]
It is really not a robbery since there was no treat of violence. But I saw the same sort of thing in Palermo but this guy tried to take the watch of a guys wrist in plain site of everyone. It was like a joke to the guy stealing the watch. It was like in slow motion yet no one tried to stop the thief. Typical in my view of the life here.
John B!
Your watch story sounds awful — I do hope that I don’t witness anything like that while I am here, or in fact, ever.
Moving on to the definition of “robbery.” In some countries, perhaps the legal definition of the word requires a threat of violence, however, in colloquial use in the US, it is perfectly acceptable to describe what occurred as a robbery.
For instance, in the States, it would be common for someone to say that their “house had been robbed while they were away on vacation.” There would be no threat of violence, obviously, but they would still be missing valuables!