On Vandalism

[Steve Robbins <steve@nyongwa.montreal.qc.ca>]

On Mon, 12 Jun 2000, Benedikt Eric Heinen wrote:

>   b) You're both right in your views on "vandalism" - the
>      dictionary does say 'property of others', but on more than
>      one occasion in common language people referred to vandalism
>      in the sense, described before (as in someone destroying 
>      some work of art in his possession).
> 
> So, PLEASE stop the discussion about what vandalising is (it can
> mean both - once dictionary-wise, once in common speech)

Sorry, can't resist:

I checked two major off-line dictionaries, the Oxford and Webster's.
Neither specify that the object destroyed belongs to another.

-smr