Rob and Mug

Status
Not open for further replies.

ratóncolorao

Member
Joined
Dec 23, 2009
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Spanish
Home Country
Spain
Current Location
Spain
Hello,

I would like to know your opinion about these two words: Rob and Mug

Is there any difference between them?
According to the dictonary, "Rob" implies the use of violence; but when defining "Mug" we see the word "attack" in the definition which also implies violence.

In common use of these words, do you feel that there are differences between them?

Thank you.
 

TheParser

VIP Member
Joined
Dec 8, 2009
Member Type
Other
Native Language
English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
Hello,

I would like to know your opinion about these two words: Rob and Mug

Is there any difference between them?
According to the dictonary, "Rob" implies the use of violence; but when defining "Mug" we see the word "attack" in the definition which also implies violence.

In common use of these words, do you feel that there are differences between them?

Thank you.

ONLY A NON-TEACHER'S OPINION


(1) Great question. I, too, want to see what others say.

(2) Two of my dictionaries define "mug" as to attack with the intention to rob.

(3) One day I was walking down the street at lunch time. Two prostitutes were

coming toward me. I tried to walk past them, but one of them blocked my way and

said "Give me the money in your pocket." I said nothing and continued to walk. She

then hit me in the head. Fortunately, her "colleague" yelled "Leave that man alone!"

(a) I was not actually robbed, but I think it fair to say that I was mugged.
 

riquecohen

VIP Member
Joined
Aug 24, 2010
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
American English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
Brazil
Hello,

I would like to know your opinion about these two words: Rob and Mug

Is there any difference between them? Yes.
According to the dictonary, "Rob" implies the use of violence; but when defining "Mug" we see the word "attack" in the definition which also implies violence.

In common use of these words, do you feel that there are differences between them?

Thank you.
In a robbery, the "victim" can be a person or a place. "The school was robbed of all its computers." In a mugging, the event usually takes place outdoors or in a public place. "He was mugged on his way home from the supermarket. They took his groceries and all his money." A mugging usually includes a robbery, but a robbery is not always a mugging.
 

waflob

Member
Joined
Sep 20, 2011
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
Germany
Resisting the temptation to answer along the lines of "you can't put tea or coffee in a rob", I would suggest that mugging starts with an attack, hoping to make the actually robbery easier.
 

Barb_D

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Mar 12, 2007
Member Type
Other
Native Language
American English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
There does not have to be violence for it to be a mugging--just the threat of violence. If someone pulls a gun or knife on me and demands my purse, he never has to touch me but I have still been mugged.
 

BobK

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 29, 2006
Location
Spencers Wood, near Reading, UK
Member Type
Retired English Teacher
Native Language
English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
UK
:up: One more for the vocabulary books - recognized recently by the OED: "chugger". This is someone who accosts people in public places and signs them up to make a regular charity donation. There's no violence, though they can be insistent in a way that some people would regard as impolite.

b
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top