Robbery, burglary, and heist sound similar, but
they mean different things. And the Louvre case
is the perfect example to show the difference.
Welcome back to the Learn English podcast, the
podcast teaching English in context so you can
learn naturally. On today's episode, we're going
to discuss the incident that took place at the
Louvre Museum, and we're going to use it to learn
some real -life English vocabulary. When the
news covered this story, Reporters used a lot
of terms like burglary, robbery, and heist. These
words are common in English, but they can be
confusing if you don't know the difference. But
today, we're going to explain these terms clearly
so you can understand them when you hear them
again. Are you ready to learn these vocabulary
words? Then let's begin. Let's start with three
words that appear to be very similar. The first
one is robbery. Robbery is when you steal something
from someone, but you use force or a threat.
The victim is present during this and it can
happen anywhere, inside a building or outside.
An example of this would be when someone goes
to a bank and threatens a cashier to give them
money. A burglary is similar but you're going
to see what the slight difference is. This is
when someone illegally enters into a building
to steal something. No person needs to be threatened
during this and usually the victim is not even
present. An example of this would be if someone
breaks into your house while you are at work
and steals your stuff. A heist is a more specific
word because it is a planned action to steal
something that is very valuable like art money
or jewelry this is one of the key differences
between a heist and a more spontaneous crime
spontaneous means that it just happens in the
moment you're not planning it ahead of time a
heist is organized and intentional what happened
at the louvre museum was a heist because they
targeted the museum's jewels The goal of a heist
is simple. First, you have to break in, which
means you have to gain access to the building,
and then you want to score something valuable.
To score is a verb and it means to successfully
steal something. You might also hear the noun
form of this where you call the thing that you
are stealing the score. In the Louvre case, the
crown jewels were targeted. The thieves wanted
to score the crown jewels and the crown jewels
therefore were the score. To do this successfully,
the thieves had to plan ahead of time. Heists
are rarely random. They usually involve careful
planning ahead of time because the thieves need
to know a lot of information to successfully
complete the heist. This planning can take days,
weeks, or even months. they have to study the
target identify how they are going to do it and
decide exactly who is going to do what action
thieves often study the layout or the blueprint
of a building a layout means where things are
located in the building and then a blueprint
is a little bit more official that is an architectural
diagram of where things are located in the building
that is a more detailed map Studying this helps
them understand the entrances, the exits, and
the security. You're going to hear this process
referred to as casing the joint or casing the
place. This is when they look at the layout,
who has access to the building, and what the
building looks like inside. A joint is a casual
way of saying a place, so case the joint and
case the place mean the same thing. Another term
for this is reconnaissance or recon. Recon is
the shortened way of saying reconnaissance. And
again, this just means that the thieves are doing
some studying ahead of time so they know what
environment they are going into. Usually when
there is a team of people who are doing a heist,
there is a mastermind who is the person who actually
plans the heist. And then the accomplices, people
who help with the crime. Sometimes a heist is
even an inside job. An inside job means that
one or more of the people who are involved with
the crime actually work in the building that
is being targeted. In the Louvre case, there
was some investigation to see if one of the members
of the security staff had helped the thieves.
At the time of this recording, there hasn't been
further details. So I am not sure if that incident
was an inside job or not. Disguises are another
thing that are used to pull off a heist. A disguise
is something that hides your identity. In many
heists, disguises are one of the most important
tools because they allow thieves to blend in
and avoid suspicion. Blend in means that people
don't notice them. They don't stand out. They
don't look like they're out of place. So disguises
can be effective because people tend to trust
what looks familiar. If someone looks like an
employee or a construction worker or like they're
doing maintenance on the building, oftentimes
other people will just ignore them or won't question
why they are there. And in the Louvre case, the
thieves used construction or maintenance vests
so they looked like they were doing work around
the building. When they were in this disguise,
they didn't have to force a door open to try
to gain access. Instead, they used a furniture
lift truck to go to the second story of the museum.
And then they cut through a window and entered
the building. Once inside, they went straight
to the gallery where the jewels were being displayed.
They smashed the glass case and stole the jewels.
So you will hear this get called a smash and
grab. which means that you break whatever display
the jewels are in and then you take them quickly
the goal with a smashing grab is to complete
the theft as quickly as possible and escape before
security or police can respond speed is critical
in a smash and grab the thieves plan ahead of
time where to go and what exactly to take so
they can escape as quickly as possible In this
case, the theft only took a matter of minutes.
While the thieves were in the museum, someone
was also acting as a lookout. A lookout is a
person who is outside of the building and they
are in communication with the people who are
inside to tell them if something is occurring
or if there's something that they need to be
aware of, like the police arriving. The Louvre
team had at least two people outside who acted
as lookouts. And they also helped with the getaway.
A getaway plan is the plan that you have for
how to escape after you commit the crime. This
step is very important because without a successful
getaway, the heist fails. Thieves have to plan
their escape route in advance so they know where
to go and how to avoid being caught. They may
choose smaller vehicles or quieter streets or
areas with less police presence the goal is to
leave quickly and avoid attention after stealing
the jewels the thieves used the same lift truck
to descend back down to the road and then got
on the backs of motor scooters that were waiting
for them these were their getaway vehicles and
allowed them to have a fast exit through the
city instead of fleeing the country the thieves
decided to lay low Lay low means that you go
into hiding and you try to avoid attention. If
thieves tell people what they did or if they
start spending a ton of money that they didn't
have before, they can attract attention to themselves.
The purpose of laying low is to try to avoid
detection by police. So by laying low, they try
to reduce suspicion and allow time to pass and
eventually try to escape to a different location.
and to wait for the situation to blow over. Blow
over is a phrasal verb, and what it means is
that you're waiting for people to stop remembering
what happened and to stop looking for you. Once
people start forgetting about what happened,
it's then safer to come out of hiding. The Louvre
thieves were hoping that the situation would
blow over and that they could lay low, but that
wasn't the case. Police investigated the crime
and arrests were made. At the time of this recording,
eight people have been arrested in connection
with the case. The Louvre case shows that laying
low doesn't always guarantee that you will be
able to escape. Before we finish today's episode,
I wanted to give you some film and TV recommendations
that you can use to practice your listening comprehension.
These are stories about heists, so you will hear
the vocabulary terms that we went over today
like mastermind lookout getaway and recon when
you watch them try and listen for the vocabulary
terms and see how they are used in real conversations
the first recommendation is probably the most
famous and that is oceans 11. it's a fun and
stylish heist movie there is a version from 1960
but the more popular more famous version is from
2001 and it stars george clooney brad pitt and
matt damon the 2001 version is especially good
for intermediate to upper intermediate english
learners because the dialogue is clear modern
and focused on explaining the plan since the
characters spent a lot of time discussing strategy
teamwork and security you'll hear how many of
these heist vocabulary terms are used naturally
in conversation this is a franchise so if you
like the original movie there are two additional
movies with the original cast and then another
movie that stars Sandra Bullock. Our second recommendation
is Good Girls. This is a TV show and it follows
three suburban moms who end up getting involved
in crime. They learn how to plan heists while
avoiding getting caught. This show is good for
intermediate English learners because the characters
use very natural everyday American English. since
they are not professional criminals at first
they often explain their plans with simpler language
and that makes it easier to understand and follow
the story this aired from 2018 to 2021 this means
that there are four seasons and lots of episodes
for you to practice your listening comprehension
our next recommendation is a netflix show it's
actually a spanish show but it does have an english
dub which means that you can listen to it in
english And it also has English subtitles. This
is great for ESL learners, especially if you
feel like your listening comprehension is not
as strong. This is a good way that you can watch
the content and see if you're understanding it.
In English, the show is called Money Heist. money
heist is about a mastermind called the professor
he recruits a team to break into important financial
buildings in spain including the royal mint and
the bank of spain each person on the team uses
a fake name based on a city and they follow a
detailed plan that includes disguises reconnaissance
and escape strategies It also has almost every
vocabulary term that we went over today, so this
is a really great option if you want to practice.
There are five seasons available on Netflix,
which means that there are a lot of episodes
where you can hear this vocabulary used again
and again in real conversations. Another excellent
Netflix heist show is Lupin. This story follows
a man, Ahsan Diop, who uses disguises, planning,
and deception to steal valuable items and expose
powerful people who wronged his family. The story
is inspired by a famous fictional thief. It started
in 2021 and it is still ongoing so there are
new episodes being made. It currently has three
parts and each season continues his larger mission
of revenge. One of the most interesting parts,
if you can believe it, is that there is a storyline
where he plans to steal valuable jewelry from
the Louvre, which connects directly to the real
case we've discussed on today's episode and makes
this show feel especially relevant. The show
is a French show, so the original dialogue and
acting is in French. However, just like Money
Heist, there is an English dub, so you can watch
it in English. The English level is intermediate
and it is especially good for English learners.
Many of the scenes focus on planning and conversation,
but it still has a lot of action and suspenseful
scenes to keep you engaged. And our final recommendation
is The Italian Job. This is a classic heist film
that has a team of thieves who plan to steal
gold and then escape using small cars to drive
through narrow city streets. The plan includes
disguises, teamwork, and a carefully organized
getaway, which makes it a great example of how
heists are planned and executed. There is a British
version from 1969 that stars Michael Caine, but
there is also a newer version from 2003 that
stars Mark Wahlberg and Charlize Theron. The
English level is intermediate and it is especially
good for learners who want to hear clear American
English while following an exciting story. I
hope you enjoyed this episode and I hope you
have a better understanding of the vocabulary
behind a real life heist. A reminder to look
at the description of this podcast episode for
helpful links and the vocabulary list of the
words and phrases that we use today. If you liked
this episode, if you found it helpful, please
share it with someone you know. You can also
leave us a review on whatever app you're using
to listen to this podcast on. Both of those things
will help us grow our audience and help more
people on their English journey. You can follow
us on social media or go to our website at learnenglishpod
.com. And remember to follow the show so you
don't miss our next episode when it comes out
next week. Until then, keep learning English.