Welp, TIL. Thank you. :)

While absolutely conceding the synonymous property of the two phrases, I will further confess to never having encountered the francified version, which seems unfair since they had it first.

As a reference source I bristle at Merriam-Webster's citing only four recent examples from current year (2026) and one more from only a year earlier. That's utterly -- nay, actively -- useless to establish provenance or actual etymological information. But that's on par for M-W. Etymonline's result for "petty" was more useful.

A DDG search on '"petit theft" provenance' results was more fruitful, and maybe where your own AFAICT info came from(?):

• A Tallahassee legal firm's blog entry from 2024
• Another (undated) blog source at BustedBaddie.com which cites Florida Statute § 812.014, in which, sure enough, the crime is so named.

I'll chalk-up the difference to mutual provinciality and the Atlantic USAian coast's complicated history with the French. ;-)

...petit theft...

Twice, even.

And then at the end,

This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.

I call horseshit on that last sentence.

... in the 1867

Jesus fucking wept.

What an absolute waste of bandwidth.

WHY THE FUCK ARE WE ALWAYS WEARING HATS

You say that as if you yourself had never worn an onion on your belt, because that was the style at the time.

Just, Look Around You.

Clouseau, hootenanny, Moscow, and dioxide all have two O’s

You may wish to revisit that postulation. :)

Connections
Puzzle #1007
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Thank you for this. Cool read!

Not germane. Zurich Insurance Group is not a USian medical insurance company.

The problem isn’t limited to America.

It is if you're in America.