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Consider me gripped.

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Whenever I read or hear the word "hooligan," it makes me chuckle in a melancholy way. When I was a child, my mom (who has been deceased for over 20 years now) used to call me a "hooligan" whenever I behaved in a rambunctious or overly boisterous manner. It's really hard for me to take the word seriously, because it makes me think of child me bouncing off the walls and chewing great wads of Bubble Yum.

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Hahah. I love that. I know the word primarily in Chinese 流氓. The dictionary translation is hooligan. To my mind 流氓 is from an alleged Mao quote that said “all romance not for the purpose of marriage is hooliganism.” Teachers and parents use this quote to dissuade students from dating one another which is largely banned in Chinese schools. And I suppose around 1983 due to high crime rates the Chinese government decided to label anyone who goes to dance parties or show public display of affection a hooligan which was a criminal charge, sometimes punishable by death. I’ve actually never ever heard the word hooligan used in the west as an insult, or at all

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The Russians also use charges of "hooliganism" against dissidents and those they consider to be socially disruptive.

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