I'm curious what the general public thinks about a situation that happened to my friend and how most people view it.
She was riding on a public bus and got off leaving her wallet on her seat. Realizing this, she contacted the transit service and they said no one turned in a wallet. Would you say she lost her wallet or was her wallet stolen?
I vote for there is not enough information to know. Even with more information one may never know. Where does she carry her wallet, is she known for losing things especially wallets. Does she open her wallet to get her dollar or so out for the bus ride or open it for her bus pass?
She didn't lose her wallet because she knows where it was left. She can't definitively say it was stolen, because she wasn't around to see what happened to it after she left the bus. So, with the information provided, I would say neither. Now, if her credit card company or bank see activity on her credit card/debit card account, then you could say it was stolen.
She doesn't know where her wallet is. It could be on the bus, it could be in a dumpster, it could be at the depot, it could be in someone's pocket. But she doesn't know where it is. Because she lost it.
After she lost it someone might have stolen it. All we can say for certain is that she lost it.
Perhaps she'll find it back. But you can't find it back if it isn't lost xD
I lost my place in the book I was reading. It was still there, though. I found it back.
edit: Oh! Definition, literally the first result when I put "lost definition" in google:
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lost
2 : unintentionally gone out of or missing from one's possession or control
Well. it's most definitely unintentionally gone out of and missing from her possession and control. By her own hand, even. So it's literally a fact that she lost her wallet. Always a bummer.
She's an idiot. Don't blame other people... [:sick:]
I left my shoes on the other side of the room. They're no longer in my possession or under my control. But they're not lost. I don't think lost is the correct word in OP's example. Misplaced seems much more appropriate.
Misplaced doesn't seem to imply that most likely she'll never see it again. Misplaced seems horrible for OP's example.
Misplaced is for a file that's in the wrong stack on your desk, and you just need to find it. For a wallet that could be in any of thousand of places over a miles long bus route? Yeah no.
If you left your shoes on the other side of the clubfloor, I could see them not being under your control, but if they are sitting by your bed within sight I wouldn't say they are outside of your control, in terms of lost.
I was with you a little until you thought misplaced was right.
Thanks to everyone who has posted or voted. Language is interesting as well as psychology. It's fascinating to see all the different takes on an everyday example. I think everyone is probably right on some level.
Def she lost it. She does not know the whereabouts to the wallet. One definition of lost is not being about to retrieve something. Ex. would be your "youth", lost youth referring to spend/wasted life in your younger years. Its simple not something u can obtain again.
Then is the wonderful question of how does she know she left it on the bus? Could it possibly dropped walking or whatever she was doing after this bus ride. How long did it take for her to notice it? Cause if she recalled seeing it in the seat of the bus and failed to pick it up prior to departing, that's neglect on her part for her lost/ left behind item.