Man Stabbed at Celts Grizz game

[D.o.s.]

Is it really politically incorrect to use the word "thug" now?

"Don't say that! You might insult the thugs!"

It really has a lot to do with what you mean by 'thug' and who you're describing. If Hassan Whiteside is a 'Thug' but Jusef Nurkic is 'scrappy and plays hard', yeah that's a party foul.

Its also related to the common parlance. Thug, in the context of our use of the word as a society over the last couple decades, has definite racial connotations. So when people use it, there is going to be some kind of reaction as if that was the intended or implied undertone.

Exactly. What's politically incorrect is telling someone that their freedom of speech doesn't preclude them from judgements made on their character. If I describe a kid I don't know as a "picaninny," for example, then there's probably something you can draw from that.

[indeedproceed]

Is it really politically incorrect to use the word "thug" now?

"Don't say that! You might insult the thugs!"

It really has a lot to do with what you mean by 'thug' and who you're describing. If Hassan Whiteside is a 'Thug' but Jusef Nurkic is 'scrappy and plays hard', yeah that's a party foul.

Its also related to the common parlance. Thug, in the context of our use of the word as a society over the last couple decades, has definite racial connotations. So when people use it, there is going to be some kind of reaction as if that was the intended or implied undertone.

How do you figure?

Outside of Tupac/the rap game.

This is a good look at the word:

http://regressing.deadspin.com/the-word-thug-was-uttered-625-times-on-tv-yesterday-1506098319

here is another one:

http://time.com/2369/richard-sherman-thug-n-word/

And those are just ones related to Richard Sherman.

I'm not saying its impossible to use the word 'thug' in a non-racially pejorative sense. I'm saying that too often, it is used to describe 'a certain type' of person.

Kind of like how LeBron James is first and foremost 'an athletic freak', and only later in his career has his honestly cerebral approach to the game been brought on (I'd say "almost") equal terms to his 'athletic freakishness'.

And by the same token, how often is a guy like Pau Gasol, or Dirk Nowitzki described as an "athletic freak"? Cuz, they are. 7 foot human beings have no right to being as coordinated and athletic as these men are. Grant Hill was an "athletic freak".

I think the sensitivity over the word Thug is not misplaced, its got a history. I think the new thing though is not the fact that a fairly innocuous (well in the way that the word is common, and has been repurposed at times) word like thug was often repurposed, that's been happening since we've had polite conversation. I think the new thing is that we're noticing, and there's a large part of the population that won't let it go unremarked anymore.