McWhorter is a thinker for whom I hold the utmost respect, but he is completely off base on “thug”. There is no racial connotation to the word at all, as EZ inadvertently demonstrates by citing the myriad instances in which he recently has applied it to describe various thugs that are not black. Its synonyms are “hooligan”, “bully”, “ruf…
McWhorter is a thinker for whom I hold the utmost respect, but he is completely off base on “thug”. There is no racial connotation to the word at all, as EZ inadvertently demonstrates by citing the myriad instances in which he recently has applied it to describe various thugs that are not black. Its synonyms are “hooligan”, “bully”, “ruffian”, and “goon”, not “nigger”. What relevance is there that it became one of the go to terms for gangster rappers to describe their own? It becomes racially charged because of that? Is “goon” therefore a slur against Canadians since it’s long been the go to term to describe thuggish, “enforcer” style hockey players?
McWhorter is a thinker for whom I hold the utmost respect, but he is completely off base on “thug”. There is no racial connotation to the word at all, as EZ inadvertently demonstrates by citing the myriad instances in which he recently has applied it to describe various thugs that are not black. Its synonyms are “hooligan”, “bully”, “ruffian”, and “goon”, not “nigger”. What relevance is there that it became one of the go to terms for gangster rappers to describe their own? It becomes racially charged because of that? Is “goon” therefore a slur against Canadians since it’s long been the go to term to describe thuggish, “enforcer” style hockey players?
I though "goon" was for The Outfit's enforcers & leg breakers.