Trivia: the word "thug" was invented by the East India Co. as part of a racist propaganda campaign

It comes from the Hindi word "thag", "thief", originally from the Sanskrit "sthagati", "to cover or conceal". It was historically used in India to describe a particular group of highway robbers in northern India, but it achieved global prominence after John Company decided that the alleged menace of "thuggery" could be used to get them more of a free hand in ruling India.

A series of "thug pamphlets" were commissioned by writers of the time to luridly describe the (completely fictional) horrors of the thug bands that were allegedly rampaging across India (despite the fact that India was a much safer place from a violent crime standpoint than England was at the time). Between one and two thousand Indians were lynched by EIC "thug courts" over the course of the 1810s and 1820s.

So, really, I guess not all that much has changed...