# I Steadfastly Reject This Sudden Rush to Redefine "Thug" as a Racial Slur **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [May 1, 2015, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-steadfastly-reject-this-sudden-rush-to-redefine-thug-as-a-racial-slur/718959 "2015-05-01T03:04:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2015, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-steadfastly-reject-this-sudden-rush-to-redefine-thug-as-a-racial-slur/718959/41 "2015-05-01T14:37:44Z")
By the way, [this image](http://mediad.publicbroadcasting.net/p/wjct/files/styles/related/public/201403/the_thug_target_0.jpg) is the first thing that comes to mind when I hear the word “thug” (it’s featured on a popular paper target for shooters). ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2015, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-steadfastly-reject-this-sudden-rush-to-redefine-thug-as-a-racial-slur/718959/42 "2015-05-01T14:55:24Z")
That’s it, I’m going back to “no-good-nik”. ---
**Author:** ![orcenio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/orcenio/32/1036_2.png) [@orcenio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/orcenio)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2015, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-steadfastly-reject-this-sudden-rush-to-redefine-thug-as-a-racial-slur/718959/43 "2015-05-01T15:00:31Z")
Let’s use google as a semantic association network to provide us with helpful data. “[black thug](https://www.google.ca/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=%22black%20thug%22)” - 624,000 results “[white thug](https://www.google.ca/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=%22white%20thug%22)” - 375,000 results [“trayvon martin” thug](https://www.google.ca/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=%22trayvon%20martin%22%20thug) - 381,000 results [“george zimmerman” thug](https://www.google.ca/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=%22george+zimmerman%22+thug) - 215,000 results Well that settles it for me. A black murder victim is more likely to be assoiated with the word thug then his white killer. It is a racially tinged word. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2015, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-steadfastly-reject-this-sudden-rush-to-redefine-thug-as-a-racial-slur/718959/44 "2015-05-01T15:06:15Z")
And I watched a Twilight Zone episode last night that had a “thug” in it. And it wasn’t a young Sammy Davis Junior, it was some random white guy actor. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2015, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-steadfastly-reject-this-sudden-rush-to-redefine-thug-as-a-racial-slur/718959/45 "2015-05-01T15:10:18Z")
It happens even in football. Richard Sherman of the Seahawks is a Stanford graduate, highly articulate, with a highly successful career. But he’s black and wears dreadlocks. [So he’s a thug.](http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/eye-on-football/24417234) > [@](#): > > “The reason it bothers me is because it seems like it’s an accepted way of calling somebody the N-word now,” he said. "It’s like everybody else said the N-word and then they say ‘thug’ and that’s fine. It kind of takes me aback and it’s kind of disappointing because they know. > … > > "I’ve fought that my whole life, just coming from where I’m coming from. Just because you hear Compton (Calif.), you hear Watts, you hear cities like that, you just think ‘thug, he’s a gangster, he’s this, that, and the other,’ and then you hear Stanford, and they’re like, ‘oh man, that doesn’t even make sense, that’s an oxymoron.’ ---
**Author:** ![Bone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bone/32/407_2.png) [@Bone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bone)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2015, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-steadfastly-reject-this-sudden-rush-to-redefine-thug-as-a-racial-slur/718959/46 "2015-05-01T15:17:44Z")
I prefer the term ‘savages’. I adopt this language from Clerks. ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2015, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-steadfastly-reject-this-sudden-rush-to-redefine-thug-as-a-racial-slur/718959/47 "2015-05-01T15:19:21Z")
> [@orcenio](#): > > Let’s use google as a semantic association network to provide us with helpful data. > > “[black thug](https://www.google.ca/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=%22black%20thug%22)” - 624,000 results > “[white thug](https://www.google.ca/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=%22white%20thug%22)” - 375,000 results > > [“trayvon martin” thug](https://www.google.ca/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=%22trayvon%20martin%22%20thug) - 381,000 results > [“george zimmerman” thug](https://www.google.ca/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=%22george+zimmerman%22+thug) - 215,000 results > > Well that settles it for me. A black murder victim is more likely to be assoiated with the word thug then his white killer. It is a racially tinged word. LOL. That’s funny. Good one. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2015, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-steadfastly-reject-this-sudden-rush-to-redefine-thug-as-a-racial-slur/718959/48 "2015-05-01T15:19:46Z")
> [@](#): > > Suddenly “Thug” is the new racial epithet we aren’t allowed to use? I find this absurd. I have never, in all my years, heard it used as anything more than a “brute” or “ruffian.” In fact, for me the first mental image that comes to mind are white mobster enforcer types, about as far from specifically black as you can get; think low level guys in Goodfellas. You’ve been out of touch then…thug has been [morphing](http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Thug+Life) for a while now. As with gangsta, pimp, ho and the ubiquitous N word, it means something different when you use it as a self applied label or self identify with the concept than when it’s applied by someone outside of your circle BY and outsider. That’s when it takes on overtones. I’d say that ‘thug’ isn’t really a black thing, since I know quite a few younger hispanics who also self identify with that label and what it implies (and also listen to the late Tupac), but I don’t think this is a new thing that suddenly sprang up from no where. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2015, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-steadfastly-reject-this-sudden-rush-to-redefine-thug-as-a-racial-slur/718959/49 "2015-05-01T15:19:55Z")
People have been known to use racial epithets in football? I can’t believe that!!! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![OldOlds](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a3d4f5/32.png) [@OldOlds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldOlds)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2015, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-steadfastly-reject-this-sudden-rush-to-redefine-thug-as-a-racial-slur/718959/50 "2015-05-01T15:40:00Z")
I was recently called an asshole. Hard to believe, I know I find this to be a racial epithet for white people. Clearly, a Google Images search proves this: [https://www.google.com/search?q=thug&biw=1192&bih=559&site=webhp&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=MZxDVdXLB-fZsATZ1YHgDA&ved=0CAYQ\_AUoAQ#tbm=isch&q=asshole](https://www.google.com/search?q=thug&biw=1192&bih=559&site=webhp&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=MZxDVdXLB-fZsATZ1YHgDA&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ#tbm=isch&q=asshole) When discounting the anatomical and humorous images (such as an ass in a hole), the vast majority of the subjects are white. Many of the images of black people are in fact them calling someone else an asshole, which I can only assume is a white person. Clearly this is a move of the term to refer to white people, which is unacceptable. It should now be treated a toxic as Thug or N-gg-r. Fair? (to be fair, Obama get’s an honorable mention on the search, but as he is president, I am sure we can explain that away somehow) ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2015, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-steadfastly-reject-this-sudden-rush-to-redefine-thug-as-a-racial-slur/718959/51 "2015-05-01T15:44:21Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > And I watched a Twilight Zone episode last night that had a “thug” in it. And it wasn’t a young Sammy Davis Junior, it was some random white guy actor. You’re aware that _The Twilight Zone_ ended in 1964, right? A lot of things have happened in the ensuing fifty years. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2015, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-steadfastly-reject-this-sudden-rush-to-redefine-thug-as-a-racial-slur/718959/52 "2015-05-01T15:44:37Z")
Racists are going to be racists. Take “thug” away from the racists, and they’ll just find another term to use. But it’s a legitimate, English\* word going back centuries, and I’m not going to let the racists claim it as their own. \*derived, like so many other English words, from a different language ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2015, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-steadfastly-reject-this-sudden-rush-to-redefine-thug-as-a-racial-slur/718959/53 "2015-05-01T15:46:35Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > I’m not going to let the racists claim it as their own. There’s a whole lot more of them than there is of you. That’s how it’s going to be settled, because that’s how language works. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2015, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-steadfastly-reject-this-sudden-rush-to-redefine-thug-as-a-racial-slur/718959/54 "2015-05-01T15:53:52Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > You’re aware that _The Twilight Zone_ ended in 1964, right? A lot of things have happened in the ensuing fifty years. No I did not know that. ---
**Author:** ![What\_the](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f4b2a3/32.png) [@What\_the](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_the)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2015, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-steadfastly-reject-this-sudden-rush-to-redefine-thug-as-a-racial-slur/718959/55 "2015-05-01T16:06:52Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > I’m not going to let the racists claim it as their own. I didn’t realize that was the issue. I thought the issue was the politically correct trying to define those who use the word. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2015, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-steadfastly-reject-this-sudden-rush-to-redefine-thug-as-a-racial-slur/718959/56 "2015-05-01T16:15:12Z")
> [@OldOlds](#): > > **I Steadfastly Reject This Sudden Rush to Redefine “Thug” as a Racial Slur** I steadfastly reject this sudden rush to **use** “thug” as a racial slur. ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2015, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-steadfastly-reject-this-sudden-rush-to-redefine-thug-as-a-racial-slur/718959/57 "2015-05-01T16:43:07Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > I wasn’t on board with “retarded” suddenly becoming verboten, but my kids explained why they thought I should give it up and I’m glad they did. If a word becomes offensive, why not stop using it? > > “Ne’er do well” is still an option. Ya know, I still use “retarded” as an insult, and I hope it doesn’t stop being offensive. By the time I’m using that word, I’m intending to offend you. But I know plenty of offensive terms, and can make up a batch of new ones on the fly. I don’t need someone taking perfectly good words and making up new reasons to be offended by it, and I don’t see any reason to accommodate the truly stupid people who are looking for new words to be offended by. If someone calls me a racist for using “thug”, I’m going to call them an illiterate jackass in return. Trust me, I’m not subtle enough to use code words, and have no use for them. If I was dumb enough to buy into the concept of humans having races, you’d know. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2015, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-steadfastly-reject-this-sudden-rush-to-redefine-thug-as-a-racial-slur/718959/58 "2015-05-01T16:46:08Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > I would love for people to go back to using thug to mean this or that particular person, acting as a bully or criminal, rather than a generic term for looters and rioters. Well, looting and rioting are crimes. Also some of these looters and rioters are attacking the police. Nearly 100 police have been injured. > **[Nearly 100 Officers Injured Since Monday: Baltimore Police](https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/100-officers-injured-since-monday-baltimore-police/1969282/)** > > Nearly 100 officers have been hurt since violence broke out in the city on Monday, Baltimore Police said. ---
**Author:** ![mrldii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e4f/32.png) [@mrldii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrldii)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2015, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-steadfastly-reject-this-sudden-rush-to-redefine-thug-as-a-racial-slur/718959/59 "2015-05-01T16:55:31Z")
> [@steronz](#): > > …Just stop calling people thugs, hoodlums, trailer trash, criminals, illegals, etc, and refer to them as people. Problem solved. Nahhhh. While I appreciate the sentiment behind the thought, I’ll continue calling something that waddles, quacks, and drops little avian feces on my newly-laid carpeting “a duck”, too no matter how offended the little quacker might be over my ‘labeling’ it as such. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2015, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-steadfastly-reject-this-sudden-rush-to-redefine-thug-as-a-racial-slur/718959/60 "2015-05-01T17:01:24Z")
This is why I like to use little used words to confuse people. Knave, miscreant, rapscallion, scallywag, lollygagger, barrator, shitcunt [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-steadfastly-reject-this-sudden-rush-to-redefine-thug-as-a-racial-slur/718959.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-steadfastly-reject-this-sudden-rush-to-redefine-thug-as-a-racial-slur/718959.md?page=4)