Thuggee or tuggee (Hindi: ठग्गी ṭhagī; Urdu: ٹھگ?; Sanskrit: sthaga; Sindhi: ٺوڳي، ٺڳ; Kannada: "thakka&quot refers to the acts of thugs, an organized gang of professional assassins.

The Thugs travelled in groups across India for several hundred years.[1] Although the thugs traced their origin to seven Muslim tribes, Hindus appear to have been associated with them at an early period; at any rate, their religious creed and practices as worshipers of Kālī, the Hindu goddess of destruction, showed no influence of Islām. The fraternity possessed a jargon of its own, Ramasi, and signs by which its members recognized each other.[2]

And in typical fashion, the racists that use it are to cowardly to admit their racism so they blink their eyes and claim ignorance.

Thugs come in all colors. Seeing racism where none exists only inhibits the battle against actual racism.

This happened on a neighborhood Facebook page where neighbors voiced their "concern" about neighborhood kids who were trying to make money mowing lawns.

Just because a few morons are misapplying a word shouldn't be reason enough to walk on eggshells when it is the most appropriate word to use for a criminal.

likely to call a black male a thug for certain behaviors or characteristics than they are to call a white male displaying those same behaviors or characteristics a thug. But that doesn't mean people can't still use it in a non-racist way.

because some people are offended by proxy.

the connotation of it usually means a young black man or someone acting like a young black man stereotype.

Name calling, instead of seeking real solutions to problems is never useful.

Welfare Queen, urban, inner city, thug ... code words. They work as code words because they have alternative meanings, which allows the racist to act surprised when they use them and some one points out the racial connotation.

Alone, its use is almost always reserved for men of color. Therefore, I consider it racist in those cases, which (at least to me) seem to be the majority of cases where the word is used.

Some people might use the term with racial intent, but the term itself is race-neutral.

I call republicans thugs all the time.

as with almost everything, is a factor to distinguish how it's being used. I've also heard it used to refer to Mafia thugs (I'm from Las Vegas, NV) as well as run-of-the-mill street criminals.

I see another poster has said it does now have racist implications which doesn't surprise me at all.

Context.

I've heard people use it interchangeably to describe white and black men, generally young men but not always. I live on the gulf coast; I don't know if it makes a difference. We've had a good deal of mafia (mostly "Dixie Mafia&quot influence down here for a long time. I guess it all depends on who is using it and how they're using it. But unless I know the person using it to be a racist who habitually degrades other races, I don't take it as a racist term.

and we'll get to "this bloke comes right up to me says and says hello."

"Hello!"

Search Derek and Clive if you don't know what I mean.

Good one

Very few words are automatically racist.

The OP, for instance, isn't necessarily so.

If I ever use the word thug, it's not based on race, but rather on behavior. However, there are definitely situations in which it seems fairly obvious that the person is using the word in a racial way.

Context and intent have always been the determining factor for me on if something is racist or not.

to hear young people online saying that it was used to refer to race. That's not at all how I think of the word. If anything, I think of white gangsters during the Prohibition era. I suppose I'm getting old.

I say no, the word is not inherently racist.

but "thug" standing on its own does not have any racial or ethnic connotations (at least, not in the standard USAmerican English usages that I'm familiar with)...

when I was younger there was no racial meaning of "thug" but it does seem to be a more recent thing. I think people our age and older might not always think of it that way but it's definitely changing into that.

or some real thugs will put a stop to it themselves making those who misuse the expression truly wish they had never been born.

That was his gimmick a decade or so ago.

To me, thug means a violent criminal, often an enforcer for organized crime management.

You it hear being used by people against unions.

I have heard Union Thug used. The term is a violent person.

I suppose if everyone looks hard enough they can imagine racism in anything.

If the Wingers uses the word to it describe how they feel about young Black males

Young, black, hip son what he thought and he said he had never heard it used in a racial tone. To him, thug means lowlife dirtbag. Lol.

same thing.

I called all of mine and they all agree with me.

Context is important, as is who is using the term. Is 'gay' homophobic? Not usually, but it sure is when someone talks about such and such is "gay", meaning "bad". What about "Jew?" Is it anti-Semitic? Nope, except when used in such a way, like: "He jewed me on the price." or "Of course, they are upset, it is the Jew pathology to be victims." Both are examples on a word that isn't anti-Semitic being used in such a way. We could go old-school...is "articulate" a racist term? Almost never, except when it is used to express dismay at a non-white (usually black person) speaking in "proper" English (as defined by the person expressing the dismay).

Intent and context will determine if a word is being used in an offensive manner.

Broad brush being what it is, to suggest that a commonly used word that one might utter might brand that person a racist by the enduser seems pretty...yeah, that.

Thank the gods that "moron" and "idiot" have yet to raise the hackles of those seeking to be pissed about anything.

I know we don't have a group of racists posting here.

athlete, neighborhood task doer, etc... it hasn't for me.

It appears it has for some, but not in my house.

How does thug apply to a good student, athlete, (or student-athlete), neighborhood task-doer?

In a way that has little, if anything, to do with the actual meaning of the word. Making that an isolated, insignificant event, almost entirely irrelevant to the question of whether the term thug has become a racial slur in the larger culture.

Perhaps you weren't suggesting otherwise.

I didn't read the body of your post...because it's been a few days since I posted this. I trust you'll move along now. Have a nice night.

Stay close to your fainting couch.

Although I do think they way most of the reTHUGlicans us it is.

ONLY to describe blacks. Others may use it differently, but it is now a tainted word.