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Home Mixed Grill

Burglar Proof and Burglary

by admin
January 26, 2020
in Mixed Grill
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Burglar proof and burglary
proof, though one is wrong,

are twin statements that con-
fuse the majority of people

whenever they attempt to engage the
right expression to tell the story of
thieves breaking illegally into a house
to steal its contents. Burglar, a noun,

is associated with a person who com-
mits burglary by entering a building

illegally to steal and if caught he or

she faces the penalty squarely. It rang-
es from short or long term imprison-
ment, community work (service) or

both. Our concern here is however the
misuse of the phrase at any point in
time we want to report the incidence
of stealing or robbery to the listening
or reading audience.
Severally I hear people speak and
write “but for the ‘burglary proof ’ the
thieves would have gained entrance
into my neighbour’s apartment.” You

will be wrong if you are one among

those who speak and write ‘burgla-
ry proof ’ when telling or reporting

the incident of thieves breaking into
someone’s house with intent to steal or
dispossess him of his property. Burglar
proof (not burglary proof,) no doubt,

is the corrugated iron shaped into al-
ternate ridges or forms by the iron

bender or craft man to shield our win-
dows and doors to ward off intruders

and to protect lives and properties.
The right usage of the expression
‘burglar proof ’ should no longer be
confused with ‘burglary proof ’ which

the purists and masters frown at, in-
sisting that it is un-English. So, when

you are reporting about thieves force-
fully entering someone’s building with

the aim of stealing, which is a criminal
offence, ‘burglary proof ’ isn’t it but
‘burglar proof ’ is the correct usage.
You can comfortably report that “the

night marauders broke loose the ‘bur-
glar proof ’ of Mr. XYZ at dawn to steal

his property having discovered that
neither he nor his house boy was in

the house to prevent them from gain-
ing entrance into his apartment.”

Don’t write or speak “the night ma-
rauders broke loose the ‘burglary

proof ’ of Mr. XYZ at dawn to steal his
property having discovered that neither
he nor his house boy was in the house
to prevent them from gaining entrance
into his apartment.” It is unacceptable
and constitutes an abuse and misuse of
the language.

Again, we remind ourselves of the fol-
lowing overused expressions that should

be ignored or dumped in the trash can
and in its place prefer these other ones;
‘a lot’ has become blunt expression that is
no longer exciting because it has come in
contact with many people. Instead write
and speak ‘legions, several, more, many,

a number of persons or things.’ That way
you rest ‘a lot’ which the English purists
see as over laboured phrase that should
henceforth take the back seat.
The ‘actually’ statement has become
roundly abused and overburdened over
time that it has lost its value and should

be spared for the fresher or better ex-
pressions such as ‘the truth is, in fact or

indeed’ at any given time we attempt to
recall and emphasize an earlier statement
or point made. We don’t speak or write
‘advocate for’ rather we say ‘advocate’
when we report that an interest group or
people of like minds or a person of great
standing in the society pushed forward
an idea that can help society overcome
certain ills or advance a particular course
of action. This is even more so when
writing the headlines of a story or news
item. For example, “Teachers in Lagos

state ‘advocate’ better pay for its mem-
bers.” Not “Teachers in Lagos state ‘advo-
cate for’ better pay for its members.

Similarly, the phrase ‘canvass or can-
vasses for’ is wrong talking about chang-
ing the present situation of things for the

better. Rather go for ‘canvass or canvass-
es’ which is the right thing to say in that

situation. One can therefore correctly
write and speak “Former Super Eagles

player, Austin Okpara ‘canvasses’ befit-
ting treatment for retired players of the

national team.” Don’t say “Former Super
Eagles player, Austin Okpara ‘canvasses
for’ befitting treatment for retired players
of the national team.”
Do remember to download the e-Book
English for Communicators: Pitfalls and
Blind Spots direct. Here is the link to the

book store: https//www.englishforcom-
municators.com/book-store/ You can

also connect the link to your facebook,
twitter and Google Chrome. Or go to
Amazon.com KDP and on Kobo click
on mike echi account and download.

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