Re: Diffrent possessions

Ray Brown <ray.brown@...> wrote:
>> the difficulty is in the fact that "arrival" is an abstract noun and not
>> a concrete one (which can be more easily "owned").
>
> Not so difficult per_se, I think. There is much currently in the news
> about "identity theft". If something can be stolen, then someone must have
> owned it.
I think 'identity theft' is a special case.  Canonically theft involves
bereaving someone of something without their consent.  Calling identity
theft (or, say, copyright infringement) "theft" is a metaphor: the
victim is not [normally] by the act rendered bereft of his abstract
property, it's just that the 'thief' has a copy of it that the victim
is rather unhappy with.

> The thing is that 'arrival' is not something that can be stolen!

	*Muke!
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