# Why is it a sin to steal a pin? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 28, 2010, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-a-sin-to-steal-a-pin/562144 "2010-11-28T03:52:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2010, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-a-sin-to-steal-a-pin/562144/1 "2010-11-28T03:52:45Z")
Is it that it’s a sin to steal something of such little monetary value as a pin? Or is there something about pins specifically that makes it a sin to steal them? ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2010, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-a-sin-to-steal-a-pin/562144/2 "2010-11-28T04:05:00Z")
I don’t understand the question. Why wouldn’t it count as stealing? It belongs to someone else. If someone other than the owner takes it to keep it, that’s stealing. How do you understand the concept of stealing? ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2010, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-a-sin-to-steal-a-pin/562144/3 "2010-11-28T04:08:51Z")
> **[Answers - The Most Trusted Place for Answering Life's Questions](https://www.answers.com/redirectSearch?query=it-s-a-sin-to-steal-a-pin)** > > Answers is the place to go to get the answers you need and to ask the questions you want > [@](#): > > It is a sin To steal a pin, as we, all of us, used to be informed in the nursery. > [1875 A. B. Cheales Proverbial Folk-Lore 129] > > Children were taught to ‘know it’s a sin to steal a pin’‥when they brought home some doubtful finding. > [1945 F. Thompson Lark Rise xiii.] > > I brought that boy up‥and I taught him to be honest. ‥I used to say to him. ‘'Tis a sin to steal a penny or a pin,’ and he’d say it after me. > [1956 D. M. Disney Unappointed Rounds xvii.] Because it rhymes. That’s ten extra points right there. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2010, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-a-sin-to-steal-a-pin/562144/4 "2010-11-28T06:05:35Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > [Answers - The Most Trusted Place for Answering Life's Questions](http://www.answers.com/topic/it-s-a-sin-to-steal-a-pin) > Because it rhymes. That’s ten extra points right there. This. And because religiously based moral codes (especially when they are being packaged to be taught to children) tend to deal in moral absolutes. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2010, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-a-sin-to-steal-a-pin/562144/5 "2010-11-28T06:17:26Z")
Pins used to be relatively more expensive items. Isn’t that where the term “pin money” came from? Housewives would save up so they could buy them. ---
**Author:** ![fuzzypickles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9d8465/32.png) [@fuzzypickles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fuzzypickles)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2010, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-a-sin-to-steal-a-pin/562144/6 "2010-11-28T06:18:59Z")
Exodus 20:15 = **"Thou shalt not steal."** not Exodus 20:15a = **"Thou shalt not steal any item valued at more than ten sheckles."** ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2010, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-a-sin-to-steal-a-pin/562144/7 "2010-11-28T06:24:22Z")
To those who mentioned it: I’m fully aware that theft is theft. But sometimes proverbs aren’t that literal. It sounds like some of you learned the rhyme as small children. I’ve only recently heard it. So the question (which has been answered) was whether it simply means that it’s a sin to steal, or if there is some folklore surrounding pins – perhaps some fairytale where something bad happens to someone who steals a pin – that makes stealing a pin more damnable than, say, stealing a feather. ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2010, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-a-sin-to-steal-a-pin/562144/8 "2010-11-28T06:56:43Z")
It is a crime to steal. It is probably unethical to steal. It might even be immoral to steal. But it ain’t no sin cause there ain’t no such thing as sin. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2010, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-a-sin-to-steal-a-pin/562144/9 "2010-11-28T07:34:49Z")
Do note though that the Bible did allow the poor to trespass on other people’s property during harvest season and take what you left behind–in fact, it was a sin to go back and get anything you missed. And then there’s Proverbs 6:30 which says that at least other people didn’t care if you stole out of hunger, even if you were required to pay it back sevenfold in verse 31. (But note that the punishment would not be that severe for the truly poor, since it is the lesser of all your possessions or seven times the amount.) ---
**Author:** ![tumbleddown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tumbleddown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tumbleddown)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2010, 9:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-a-sin-to-steal-a-pin/562144/10 "2010-11-28T09:12:24Z")
It’s illustrating the idea that it’s wrong to steal even something that you (as the thief) consider small and inconsequential. Someone who has _a_ pin (especially in the era pre-safety pins) likely has many pins. But that doesn’t help if they don’t have enough for what they’re doing. Put it in monetary terms. You see a cup full of change sitting somewhere, and you take a nickel. A nickel may not mean much to you, but if there was $1.05 in that cup and I, as the owner, was counting on using my that $1.05 to buy a $1 sandwich that has 5¢ tax and you take a nickel, having the dollar is for naught. I end up without my sandwich, maybe without anything at all. Little stuff counts. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2010, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-a-sin-to-steal-a-pin/562144/11 "2010-11-28T16:34:46Z")
Because God said so. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2010, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-a-sin-to-steal-a-pin/562144/12 "2010-11-28T17:05:02Z")
> [@LouisB](#): > > It is a crime to steal. It is probably unethical to steal. It might even be immoral to steal. > > But it ain’t no sin cause there ain’t no such thing as sin. “The hell with it! There ain’t no sin and there ain’t no virtue. There’s just stuff people do. It’s all part of the same thing.” – Jim Casy, in _Grapes of Wrath_ by John Steinbeck. I probably haven’t read that book in a decade. ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2010, 9:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-a-sin-to-steal-a-pin/562144/13 "2010-11-29T09:12:13Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > “The hell with it! There ain’t no sin and there ain’t no virtue. There’s just stuff people do. It’s all part of the same thing.” – Jim Casy, in _Grapes of Wrath_ by John Steinbeck. > > I probably haven’t read that book in a decade. I re-read it maybe twice in a five year span. Even so, I had to look for your quote and it is there. Thanks for pointing it out. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2010, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-a-sin-to-steal-a-pin/562144/14 "2010-11-29T12:39:33Z")
One of my ancestors was sentenced to death for [stealing three handkerchiefs.](http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/browse.jsp?ref=t18260511-20) ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2010, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-a-sin-to-steal-a-pin/562144/15 "2010-11-29T18:53:00Z")
hajario: > [@](#): > > Pins used to be relatively more expensive items. Isn’t that where the term “pin money” came from? In fact, pins became so identified with money that we enter a “PIN” to get money from an ATM. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2010, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-a-sin-to-steal-a-pin/562144/16 "2010-11-29T19:07:32Z")
On a more serious note: according to Halacha (Jewish Biblical Law), a person is not criminally liable for theft unless the item he steals is worth more than a “perutah” which is usually translated as “penny.” Essentially, that was the lowest-denomination coin in Talmudic times. The Midrash says that amongst the sins of the generation wiped out by the flood is that they used to steal, en masse, less than a perutah’s worth of something from a person, with none of the individual thieves being liable but the owner losing a significant amount in the end.