straw man vs thug

straw man

noun
  • An innocuous person or someone of nominal or lesser importance, as a front man or straw boss. 

  • A doll or scarecrow, particularly one stuffed with straw. 

  • An insubstantial concept, idea, endeavor or argument, particularly one deliberately set up to be weakly supported, e.g. by misrepresenting an opponent's argument by broadening or narrowing the scope of a premise, so that it can be easily knocked down; especially to impugn the strength of any related or contrasted thing or idea. 

  • An outline serving as an initial proposal for a project, usually refined iteratively. 

  • Synonym of straw buyer 

verb
  • To falsely attribute an insubstantial argument (a straw man argument) to another through direct declaration or indirect implication; to put words in someone's mouth. 

thug

noun
  • Someone with an intimidating and unseemly appearance and mannerisms, who treats others violently and roughly, often for hire. 

  • One of a band of assassins formerly active in northern India who worshipped Kali and offered their victims to her. 

  • One who, usually as a result of social disadvantage, has turned to committing crimes (e.g. selling drugs, robbery, assault, etc.) to make a living; a gangsta. 

  • An over-vigorous plant that spreads and dominates the flowerbed. 

  • A punk; a hoodlum; a hooligan. 

  • A wooden bat used in the game of miniten, fitting around the player's hand. 

verb
  • To commit acts of thuggery, to live the life of a thug, or to dress and act in a manner reminiscent of someone who does. 

How often have the words straw man and thug occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )