Planning to buy one for Kevin Love for his birthday.
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I regret not being clearer. I should have said it âhadâ no negative racial connotation for me prior to around 2015. It always had a negative connotation, in general, insofar as brutishness was negative, but it, to me had nothing to do with race. I now understand it to be a word that might offend some people. How it is received by many, and the expressing of how the word is received, has changed the general context within which the word is used, and therefore it will change the meaning gleaned within specific speech acts. The fluidity of meaning is undeniable. The meaning is also fluid amongst individuals within racial groups. So I think you need to be more careful there tooâŚ
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Something that I found insightful while reading more into this: he was trying to give them a compliment when he said they were playing like thugs(slugs) ie in the past and theyâve since started to show more effort. Seems pretty clear to me that this was something he said on accident and didnât even realize that he misspoke and when confronted about it handled the situation in the typical classy Beilein manner. Iâm still hoping for the best for him, and definitely glad he got that five year deal.
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Listening to him speak through the years, I think JB probably does have a speech impediment. He stutters and sometimes has a lisp. That might have been what he explained to his players. If you struggle with your âsâsâ, then the âthâ sound does come out.
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Thereâs nothing inherently homophobic about the word fa****, but itâs ridiculous to argue that using that word toward someone isnât homophobic.
Words can take on different meanings in different cultures and contexts. So while the definition may mean one thing, its use can indicate something else depending on where and how it is deployed.
- Nope. The possible upside of 1-2 decades of Juwan pulling in 5 stars constantly is just too high with JB probably only having a couple years left under his belt.
- Yeah I think Lavall would be the coach in that scenario. Ultimately, Juwan is the head coach here because the lack of talented options made the risk worth it. A guy coming off coaching a 1 seed at a non-blue blood is very much an enticing prospect.
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Hopefully he doesnât hurt his hand enough hitting seats that it swells up too much to be able to comfortably slide into that shirt.
I am glad he isnât running away form this. He has met with players individually, collectively and in the media. How he has treated players before and after this will determine if he is forgiven and can keep or earn respect from players.
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Thatâs your serious answer?
Anyone else think this sounds very racist???
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There isnât.
If you donât think there is a racial connotation in the word thug then itâs hard to help you understand it man. I donât think JB is a racist or meant to say it, however thatâs something that cannot be said in a NBA locker room by a old white coach especially in todayâs society. I do think the slug excuse does make it look worse. Whether itâs true or not I just donât think it looks good. Not quite sure what JB meant but he made a mistake and all in all heâs still a great guy and his career shouldnât be defined by this.
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I really donât know how I could make it more clear than this.
Please enlighten me on which part of this makes you come to the conclusion that I deny it has a racial connotation. Is it the part where I said it has a racial connotation? FFS. I have made it so clear that I have zero issue with the notion that it has that connotation.
This dead horse has about been beaten to road kill, but for me thereâs no way in heck John Beilein means to say his players have been going at it like thugsânamely, pummeling people, etc.âwhen heâs trying to say theyâve been going through the motions and doing pretty much the opposite. Itâs an error or whatever, but if he apologizes and his players get it, thenâcâmon, folksâto continue to insist that itâs on purpose or an excuse is. . . perplexing. This is a guy whoâs almost exquisite in his old-school, gentlemanly manners who just spent a dozen years in fruitful relationships with scores of African American kids and their families who all revere him. He quickly apologized, andâcruciallyâgot why saying âthugâ would not be appropriate. In what universe does anyone of almost any such awareness say such a thing on purpose? Not John Beileinâs.
Fans will perpetuate this down a rabbit hole of false correctness long after John and his players move on.
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Must have misread it, my apologies. Just seemed weird that you were checking to see if it had a racial connotation when you already admitted it did.
I wasnât checking that. As I said in the quote above, I was looking for uses of it as a synonym to the word âlazy.â It seems youâre skimming over messages or not fully understanding the discussion, which you should probably do before accusing people of something.
âCouldnât find a single article about the word thug and itâs racial connotationâŚâ Not accusing you of anything itâs just how I interpreted the comment. If weâre on the same page with it then no need to argue.
I understand the racial connotation for most people. I recall someone years ago complaining about the use of the word in the NBA and saying, accurately, that you never hear it used in the NHL to describe players who play dirty. âGoonâ is the equivalent word in the NHL, and there must be a reason for the difference.
I most often apply the word âthugâ to totalitarian dictators in countries around the world, including the ones with blonde hair and blue eyes.
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No. That was a joke answer. But I seriously googled âlazy thugâ and the âslug lifeâ shirt was the first image that came up. It seriously happened. Your google search might yield different results. Algorithms and whatnotâŚ
Why sure, we have the current secretary of state using the word in the context of Venezuela:
https://www.aninews.in/news/world/us/us-will-take-action-against-maduros-thugs-pompeo20190224125730/
None of this is to defend JB. But âthugâ does mean âa cruel or vicious ruffian, robber, or murdererâ. In certain situations, but not all, it can have racial connotations.
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