Call me ignorant, but I did not know that "thug" is another word we must thrust from our vocabulary. Apparently this has been the case since 2015? I suppose this is not new to any of you? <sigh>

I had no idea. I'm also out of the loop.

I occasionally watch some morning TV junk wherein they refer to people I've never heard of as celebrities. I've no idea how many of them are thugs.

quote:

Originally posted by Geoff:
they refer to people I've never heard of as celebrities. I've no idea how many of them are thugs.

The British quiz show "Pointless" often has a round where they show sixteen pictures of "celebrities" and the contestants have to identify them. There have been times when from the sixteen I have been able to name two, vaguely recognised but couldn't name two more, recognised the names of two more when I heard them and had absolutely no idea who any of the other ten were even after the answers were given. The contestants seem to do a lot better though so it's probably just me.

Was there something trending I missed that caused you to bring that up, Kalleh?
I found [URL=https://www.npr.org/2015/04/30...behind-the-word-thug]this[/URL] discussion of how the use of the word has evolved. Interestingly, it appears to have a somewhat anti-hero ring to it when used by folks from ‘the hood’ – just like the n-word.

It reminded me of something a friend said recently: when she hears right-wingers talk of “international globalists,” she hears anti-semitism—an updated version of the old Jewish banking conspiracy slur. It hadn’t occurred to me & seemed an assumption. She refined to say she hears it from MAGA cultists who often are speaking from a racist mindset.

Bethree, here is the article that got me started on this.

I think we can save "thug" if only enough people will use it referring to hooligans (a silly-sounding word, IMO, but one that keeps coming up in "thug" discussions) who are notably Caucasian. Take Tony Soprano's crew. Each and every one of them is a despicable thug and there really isn't any better noun to describe them. If one of them threatened to kill me, I wouldn't report it to the police saying, "That hooligan had a knife!" (Of course, chances are I might not report it to the police at all, but that's another story.)

Well, reading that article, it looks like it has already been thrust from a non-racist's vocabulary.

I do not see any racial connection to "thug," but I envision a white person when I hear the word. Do "vandals" make you think of blacks? Have you forgotten Martha and The Vandellas?" Yeah, sure, Rom was sacked by some black girls from Detroit! So whadda ya gonna do, reprogram my brain?

Non-PC old fart Geoff

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Geoff,

I have infrequently (if ever) used the word, so I don't really think Black, White or Brown. However, many have attributed a racist connotation to it so that's why I have concluded that it's not a good word to use.