Thread: The Chav - the other c-word

3 June 2011
Why is 'chav' still controversial?



A new book claims the word "chav" is helping to reignite class war. The journalist Polly Toynbee calls it "the vile word at the heart of fractured Britain". Recently a peer caused a kerfuffle when she tweeted about being stuck in "chav-land". So almost a decade after its emergence, is chav really the most divisive word in Britain, asks Tom de Castella.

For some it has been a satisfying label to pin on Burberry check-wearing louts. But for others, it's a nasty, coded attack on the working class.

And for some commentators the word chav is now at the heart of Britain's obsession with class.

There has been much discussion over the origin of the term. The Romany word chavi - meaning child - was recorded in the 19th Century. Others argue it's from "Chatham average", a disparaging reference to the inhabitants of the Kent town.

There have always been regional labels equivalent to chav - skangers, spides, charvers, scallies and neds, respectively in Ireland, Northern Ireland, North East England, North West England and Scotland. But chav has somehow scaled regional barriers to become a national term of abuse.

Driven by websites like Chavscum and Chavtowns, and soon picked up by the mainstream media, the word has also mutated into "chavtastic", "chavsters", "chavette", "chavdom".

There are plenty of people for whom the word is harmless. Daily Telegraph blogger James Delingpole argues it's merely an updating of "oik".

But more left-leaning commentators have seen it as shorthand for bashing the poor. In 2008 the Fabian Society urged the BBC to put it on their list of offensive terms.

"This is middle class hatred of the white working class, pure and simple," wrote Tom Hampsen, the society's editorial director. He also called on the Commission for Equality and Human Rights to take this kind of class discrimination seriously.

more

I'd never heard the word chav till I joined this forum (such a sheltered life)

A search of Google images brings this one up first



and these



For protection during sex chavs usually use a bus shelter.



so . . . lets get on with some banal banter - is the c-word the new n-word? offensive or not

I've always wondered why they call it the "working" class, considering most of them are on the dole.

When this use of "Chav" 1st started to do the rounds it was as a friendly term that replaced "mate", "pal" etc. The media played a good part in labeling certain social groups as being "chavy" to mean "common" or as a slight to cheapness.
I did know some people from that Kent area and it does have a bad rap , but saying that plenty of coastal towns in the U.K are or have been dumps.

From Urban Dictionary-

charv

The correct spelling of chav. 'Chav' is the bastardised variation of charv, which is both incorrect and stupid sounding. The word charv (short for charver, i mean come on, how can 'chav' be short for chaRver?! Some idiots on this website have defined the word 'chav' but have also made refrence to the word 'chaRver'. Don't they notice their stupid term isn't even a shortened version of the correct fucking word?!) originated from the birth place of charv culture; Newcastle, UK. Charv culture then spread across the nation and the idiots in the south (ie, the media) started picking up on the North East's word but for some idiotic reason missed out the 'R'. Anyone who calls a charv a chav should be shot.

Radio 1 DJ : "My car was broken into by a chav the other day!"

Everyone in Newcastle listening to the show : "ITS CHARV YOU STUPID FUCK!!"

Originally Posted by genghis61

I'd never heard the word chav till I joined this forum (such a sheltered life)

A search of Google images brings this one up first

Surprised it didn't link to my 'stereotype picture' thread.



Chavs.



Chavettes.

Chav probably has its origins in the Romani word "chavi", meaning "child"[3] (or "chavo", meaning "boy",[4] or "chavvy", meaning "youth"[5]).[6] This word may have entered the English language through the Geordie dialect word charva, meaning a rough child.[7] This is similar to the colloquial Spanish word chaval, meaning "kid" or "guy".[4][8]

Chav - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

^don't tell me you use chav now?

Fuck me, it's going to be politically incorrect to call a chav a chav. What next? Can't call a shovel a shovel?

Learn all about the charvers here:

Charver Central


To me the charver culture began in ernest in the 90s when shell suits and perms replaced the jumper tucked in jeans and wedge haircut of the 80s.