# Would you call this woman a thief? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 26, 2016, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-call-this-woman-a-thief/744293 "2016-01-26T20:06:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![sandra\_nz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@sandra\_nz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sandra_nz)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2016, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-call-this-woman-a-thief/744293/81 "2016-01-29T12:06:15Z")
Absolutely positively a thief. Where is the nuance here? ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2016, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-call-this-woman-a-thief/744293/82 "2016-01-29T12:59:17Z")
> [@Your\_Great\_Darsh\_Face](#): > > At this point I’ll leave you to your nut-punting fantasies, which you apparently enjoy although I’m forbidden to speculate in what manner, and the OP to his hypothetical. Please don’t go. I’m dying to get your thoughts on the proposition that just because nut-punting isn’t the appropriate response to everything doesn’t mean it is never the appropriate response to anything. ---
**Author:** ![Your\_Great\_Darsh\_Face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ac8455/32.png) [@Your\_Great\_Darsh\_Face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Your_Great_Darsh_Face)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2016, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-call-this-woman-a-thief/744293/83 "2016-01-29T13:42:01Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > Please don’t go. I’m dying to get your thoughts on the proposition that just because nut-punting isn’t the appropriate response to everything doesn’t mean it is never the appropriate response to anything. Eh? I already said it could be the appropriate response to actual, physical danger. Did you not read that bit? ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2016, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-call-this-woman-a-thief/744293/84 "2016-01-29T13:47:38Z")
Right. So just _how_ handsy would Eddie have to get with your mother or wife or daughter (or you) before you would consider it okay to kick him full hard in the stones? ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2016, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-call-this-woman-a-thief/744293/85 "2016-01-29T16:10:05Z")
No. He negligently lost the money, she had no formal obligation to get it back to him, and his assholery forfeited the usual informal expectation that she ought to do so. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2016, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-call-this-woman-a-thief/744293/86 "2016-01-30T01:43:21Z")
Not only is she a thief, she’s also proven herself to be a terrible human being, just like him. PS - Why didn’t she start taking the bus at a different time to get away from him? Hmmm… maybe she was setting him up the whole time. ---
**Author:** ![drewder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@drewder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewder)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2016, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-call-this-woman-a-thief/744293/87 "2016-01-30T02:42:09Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > Right. So just _how_ handsy would Eddie have to get with your mother or wife or daughter (or you) before you would consider it okay to kick him full hard in the stones? According to the law any unwanted contact is battery and a person is well in their rights to defend their person with such force as is required, not including deadly force, to put an end to the criminal act. ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2016, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-call-this-woman-a-thief/744293/88 "2016-01-30T03:39:27Z")
> [@Your\_Great\_Darsh\_Face](#): > > :rolleyes: backatcha, friend. I said that when “we” weren’t advocating the one thing, “we” were excusing the other - not to say that any one person was necessarily doing both. (Possibly someone was, but I’m not invested enough to check up.) > > No. Nice strawman, if a little sophomoric, but I didn’t say one little thing to excuse Mr. Handsy > > If you’re in clear and present danger of physical harm then a kick to the nuts may be necessary and appropriate. In cold blood, because he was annoying, creepy, whatever, not so much. She might have decided to nut-punt him in self-defence, and you might excuse that in hot blood. Again, in cold blood, not so much. > > Should Mr Handsy get off scot-free? That wasn’t the hypothetical. If he’s harassed her to the point of being an actual criminal nuisance then there are, or should be, remedies both legal and social to cause him to mend his ways. The choices aren’t just “steal his money”, “kick him in the nuts” and “let him off scot-free”, and the only reason I didn’t say so earlier was that I assumed it was obvious. > > At this point I’ll leave you to your nut-punting fantasies, which you apparently enjoy although I’m forbidden to speculate in what manner, and the OP to his hypothetical. 1. Do I believe the groper would or should be sentenced to receive a real kick to the nuts in an actual court of law? Uh, no, it was a, I thought pretty obvious, bit of hyperbole used to illustrate my point that, although Iris is guilty of theft, her sentence, due to the circumstances, should be light (i.e. she’s only ordered to pay back the money she stole). Mr. Handsie, although perhaps entitled to receive the money stolen from him, should nonetheless be punished for his sexual assault of the thief. How about 90 days in jail instead of the hypothetical kick? And, if I were the judge, I’d apply the stolen money toward court costs in lieu of restitution for the groper. 2. I have no nut-punting fantasies, although the reason you’re forbidden to speculate about them alludes me. 3. You should consider adding more fiber to your diet. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-call-this-woman-a-thief/744293.md?page=4)