Did you know that the word "thug" is racially charged? [Details]?

It depends on the context

If thug is used to describe urban looters and marauders as we saw in Baltimore, and since nearly all of them in that case were black, than a clever linguist could not help but couple the word thug with black looter. And since few if any looters were white, then the word thug could only describe black looters in that context.

And since it is not politically correct to couple the word black and the word looter, then thug de facto has a politico-racial connotation since in that context it does indeed imply a connection between the word black and the word looter.

The word thug has also been used to describe white mobsters and union goons.

In that context, everybody says “Well, that figures”

Here’s the etymology of
thug. i seem to have known this for years.

Thug) historical a member of a religious organization of robbers and assassins in India. Devotees of the goddess Kali, the Thugs waylaid and strangled their victims, usually travelers, in a ritually prescribed manner. They were suppressed by the British in the 1830s.

dictionary.com

Black rioters are thugs.
Whites burning overturned cars are overly enthusiastic revelers.

A thug is a thug. Skin color has nothing to do with it.

However nowadays it looks like any derogatory term applied to black people engaged in mindless destruction is a racially charged term.

Oh, I see, since I have been accused of that very thing here tonight. I had NO idea that “thug” is synonymous with “nigger.”
I use it as @gondwanalon mentions. Well…learn something new every day, apparently now several people think I was using racial slurs in another discussion. Oh well…not my problem that I am not privy to all the latest ghetto slang. “Thug” to me means goon, gangster, riff raff, etc.

I thought they were wiped out in the 1830’s by William Bentinck, Governor-General of India, and his chief captain William Henry Sleeman.

^^^ “They were suppressed by the British in 1830, according to my quote.”

It has been a Dog Whistle to mean “Black male that makes me uncomfortable” for a long time.

But feel free to find a incident in the last ten years where the media refers to a white guy as a thug. Geez, you can be in the 1% and black and still be called a thug.

That is how it has systematically been used recently.
Personally, I only use it to describe cops.

I have heard it used by my coworkers to describe ourselves (jokingly) as “Union Thugs.”

I have always defined a thug as a criminal.

I had an unpleasant encounter with a member of the Delaware State Police. When I finally was able to talk to the police chief, he restated my problem with her behavior this way,
“Police officers aren’t supposed to act like thugs.”

The officer in question was a white woman. And regardless of what someone says it means, she was acting like a thug (and any number of other derogatory names). I still get irritated when I think about what she did, because based on what he said he’d do to correct her behavior, I doubt she changed in any significant way…

The word became coded after Obama became President. The Tea Party couldn’t call him “n——” outright, so they began to call him a thug. It became widespread after the Trayvon Martin killing. Many people declared George ZImmerman fully justified in killing Martin because Martin was a thug.

There has been much coverage of this use as a codeword for black male.

When I think of thug, I generally think about the scabs on the knuckles. Skin color doesn’t enter into it for me. Generally standing close to a thug is a smaller fellow called a toadie who is often much smarter than the thug and uses their relationship for his/her gain. Anyone attaching other than behavior to the word is being racist and bigoted. That’s one of the beauties of our language. It can be twisted and contorted to meet the needs of the user.

I think it came from Thuggee which means theif in old times. Just Wikipedia Thuggee like from the movie Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and they reference where the word comes from. Many words have evolved.

So when President Obama said:
“You’ve got some of the same organizers now going back into these communities to try to clean up in the aftermath after a handful of criminals and thugs who tore up the place.”
Was he using black slang or (establishment) dictionary meaning?

If you listen to the NPR piece, the person being interviewed claims that Obama gets a pass on using the word ‘thugs’ because he’s black and ‘gets it’. Like Tupac.

If you’re able, listen to the piece. It also states that the meaning of thug has had 3 connotations since before Obama took office. Indeed, Tupac’s tattoo predated Obama.

For once I feel the presidink was being fairly colorless with that statement even though the guy with the broke neck could have been his son. Lol edited for autocorrect

You guys say it’s never used for white people, but I hear it used to describe neo-Nazi types, especially in countries like Russia. I guess when you’re in a country where EVERYONE is white, “thug” can refer to white people. I agree that in the American media nowadays, “thug” is often just a general term for black male and seems to be some kind of justification for killing them.

Some research reveals that the term “Thug” is an ancient Hindu word meaning ” robber, swindler, cunning, fraudulent.” The British trying to colonize india used the word “Thuggies” towards a group resisting colonization by the British. Later “Thug” was used to denote groups of outlaws.

Thugs are, and forever will be, white in my mental definition @DominicY. As will be gangsters, ala Bugsy Siegel. Blacks are self styled thugz and gangsta’s.

@ibstubro Agreed.

I nearly included you in that answer, @Coloma, as I thought you would agree wholeheartedly.

@ibstubro Well obviously being 30 years older than a lot of peeps here it stands to reason our definition is vintage Thug. lol

Wow…..another thing I was supposed to be offended by, guess on the way to the cake walk I will be a thug. The thing is, around here, thug was downgraded to being just a petty, lowlife, criminal, in short, any run of the mill gangbanger of any nationality

Stuff like this is so asinine to worry about to me. What else am I missing, is ”The Man” is supposed to be code for ”greed white c*****r”, or something? If people keep feeding into this stuff the log will never burn out, huh?