To think 'chav' is not an okay thing to call people?

Sorry but I love the word chav. It's uniquely British and conveys perfectly a whole sentiment that's almost impossible to define with other words. Long live chavs. Lots of people use it to describe their own tastes too.

That's a backronym. The word and its use predate that.

I still hear it from time to time, mostly by 30/40 somethings. I never considered it a label for 'the poor' but rather a derogatory description for those displaying certain antisocial behaviours. They are the arseholes driving around at speed at 2am in their modified cars doing doughnuts and blaring music. They are the ones sitting on a sofa in their front garden drinking all day. They are the ones who keep 'hard' dog breeds but don't bother to actually train them. They are the idiots causing all the trouble in town centres at kick out time. They are the ones who operate in the grey economy, seemingly jobless but somehow always got money.

Absolutely @5128gap

They are some of the things, yes. But depending on who you ask, others include: wearing sportswear, buying designer items, driving a 4x4 if you dont live rurally, going to Butlins not Centre parks. Going to Centre parks. Hot tubs. Calling your child a name beginning with J, tattoos, being overweight. Being thin. Not working. Working and earning a lot of money....In short, pretty much anything done by people the person using the term has identified as a group they can punch down on. Its used so subjectively its meaningless as a description of a subject. (Although a useful indication of the character of the speaker.)

It's not unreasonable to think it's not ok to use to describe people, but we all know what's meant by terms such as Chav, Council, Gammon or Karen whether we think it's appropriate to use them or not.

Isn't the word Chav an abbreviation for "council housed and violent"? Or something similar.

I think it's a disgusting word and wouldn't like my daughter to call anyone it.

We are council housed, not one violent bone in my body. Or my DH. We have lovely neighbours and live on a really lovely estate. Friendly, neighbourly and well kept.

You're comparing the pejorative term chav to moshers, an insult to nobody?!

@Beezknees we all make judgements on what we think is tasteless every minute of the day.

Yes. Chav is the same as common, feral lower-class, white-trash, pramface, And just as judgemental, snobbish and horrible as those terms.

😆 made my day!

I wouldn’t use it as it’s a deeply classist term, often used as a derogatory word for working class people.

Oh nicely put!

Absolutely.

Most chavs call themselves chavs.

Yes, I think it is quite nasty. Classism is still rife in the UK.

What is the social class ?

There have always been words to describe particular kinds of people. When I was a teen, pre the term chav, it was twockers (taken from the police term) or moshers (if you liked to be in mosh pit). It's a natural evolution of language. Over the last few years there has been the term "road-men". Snob has stood the test of time and has been around for a while. It is no less derogatory than chav, yet you seem to feel it is appropriate here OP. Perhaps because you are personally insulted more by the other one?

Upper class!

Why is chav bad but snobby fine op?

Because 'chav' is a term judging someone for their social class (which they can't help), whereas 'snobby' describes someone's attitude (which they can help).

Anyway, I'm here for the many spurious suggestions about the origin of the word 'chav' and I have not been disappointed! There are a couple I haven't heard before! Also, the word 'bacronym' is new to me - very good!

Panama2 · Today 15:20
Chav comes from travellers "Chavvies" meaning children I believe. I am sure someone more knowledgeable than me will be along

You are completely correct. It is a Romany word. That is how it became a term of abuse. Disgusting.

The problem with not wanting to use it, is that it is the only word available that accurately describes to a tee a certain type of person. We can all have an identical image in our head of the person. And it isn't even really an insult, as clearly many people aspire to it, given the choice of names for their children.

I think if anyone thinks that words used to describe a group of people with a common feature, even if it’s unflattering, shouldn’t be used they are utterly naive

@5128gap I don't disagree it's a lazy insult. And I was only using those descriptions as they are some of the things that might make someone refer to something or someone as chavvy. Not that they would necessarily have every one of those traits?! You're getting me wrong if you think I'm pro the use of 'chav'. As I said I don't use it.

That just came from an article in The Telegraph 20 years ago. It was actually nicked from the Geordie ‘chav’ (or ‘charva’ in full form) which most likely was itself nicked from the Romany term for ‘boy’. Geordies had been using the term for well over 10 years before the rest of the country cottoned on and I’m sure the Romany gypsies had been using it for centuries (though obviously with a slightly different meaning). I’m quite surprised that the OP thinks it’s still used extensively though!