Cleveland Cavaliers hire John Beilein

Michigan Basketball
632

Wait what? MANY words have specific connotations attached to them

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633

This will be the determining factor in whether the players believe him or not. If the context is such that slugs made sense they’ll give him a pass. If not, then it will be known pretty quickly regardless of what JB and the organization put out there.

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634

Whether you are going by the racist use of the word thug, or the the dictionary definition of the word thug, it is not logical.

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636

lol at the people who arguing thug doesn’t have a negative connotation associated with it, was used in the 80s/90s to refer to things like rap music, ect all the time

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637

I think the word we really need for this topic is “hug.” Okay, everyone, bring it in.

We’ve got an important Purdue game at home to wring our hands over with and we’ll need everyone on board to collectively get through this evening.

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638

This is the typical definition for “thug”:

There can be racial connotations. If you are addressing a bunch of NBA players, watch out because it will get interpreted as racist. But there is nothing inherently racist about the word. It means “a cruel or vicious ruffian, robber, or murderer”.

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639

To change the topic:

Two hypotheticals — 1) If you could “trade” for Beilein after this season and he returns to Michigan, would you?
2) Let’s say Butler was having this success (and it continues this year) last season — #1 seed, Lavall Jordan being in Coach of Year discussion — do you think he gets the job over Juwan?

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640

“Beilein’s intent in using the word doesn’t really matter”

Dude. You literally started this by saying you don’t buy the slug excuse. You can’t say this shit and then say that Beilein’s intent doesn’t matter. I mean you can, but the implication you’re making is that the reason you don’t buy the slug excuse is because you somehow think Beilein actually believes these stereotypes and meant what he said, even if he now regrets it. And we all know John Beilein enough to know what a load of shit that is.

That’s also a massive stretch to try to tie the word “thug” together with laziness. If you can find a single example of that word being a stand-in for laziness I’d be absolutely shocked. Who the hell thinks these are synonymous?

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641

  1. absolutely not

  2. yes

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642

  1. I go back and forth. Not sure I could pull the trigger either way. Probably lean yes.

  2. Yes. But does he take it at that point?

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643

Meaning, which is essentially arbitrary (as you indicate) is nevertheless anchored by specific social context (custom). In US society today, this word has a racist connotation associated with it because it has been persistently used in a racist way, something that is well understood by most (but not all – never all, since meaning is never inherent) people in this society.

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644

I find this to be a much bigger stretch than the notion that this guy who we know can have a stutter didn’t simply accidentally have his tongue in his teeth when he tried to say a word. Seriously…say “slugs” with a lisp…what comes out?

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645

I did a bit of research (top 4 google pages, not even results, but pages) and couldn’t find a single article about the word thug and its racial connotation (that I do not question) with any mention of it also being a synonym for lazy. Big stretch is an understatement.

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646

I like what you said here.

I of course agree that most people, in 2020, are aware that using the term “thug” might result in other people taking sincere offense. I am aware of this now, but it never dawned on me prior to 2015 at all. Beilein certainly is aware of this…

On the other hand, how the term “thug”, used in a specific speech act, is received by a specific listener greatly depends upon the perceived intent of the speaker using the word. An assessment of intent is complicated and unique to the particular speaker, the relationship of speaker to listener, and within a specific context.

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647

If you don’t think there’s a connection between thug and lazy, I can’t help you man.

648

It doesn’t matter if the “has zero racial connotation” to you. You aren’t in the group it disparages. The word is loaded and (everyone knows) bears negative racial stereotyping.

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650

I just googled “lazy thug” and the first thing that popped up was a tshirt, for sale, on Amazon, that reads “slug life”. Case closed!

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651

I wonder if the student store at UC-Santa Cruz has Slug Life shirts…

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652

I know I can tell you that this absurd assertion is based on fantasy that has yet to be backed up by anything despite multiple requests for you to cite some source that uses it in this way.

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