Friend still believes in "chavs"?

[waytoooldforthisshite]

Had a funny (well, slightly depressing) conversation today. my friend came round all flustered, telling me that she'd been "harassed by chavs" outside the shop. One was some teenager who asked for her number 🙄

Tried to explain that "chavs" aren't even real, it's a tabloid invented stereotype/myth from the early 2000s that was basically used to demonise working class people. But she just went on about it like she was quoting The Sun from 2004. I ended up showing her this article. She's 39.... and I expected her to know a bit better but what can ya do eh?

Just feels so outdated now. You don't really hear anyone say "chav" anymore (thankfully), and it's weird how those old class-based stereotypes still linger. I honestly felt like I'd timetravelled back to the Little Britain era 😂

Anyone else still know people who talk like that?

You're very persistent.

Chavs are not council house ASBO bearing Oiks with Staffordshire bull terriers ensconced.

the term actually refers to working class people who have come into money, the nouveau riche

@waytoooldforthisshite
i don’t associate “chavs” with working class - the sort of kids that would’ve been branded chavs are from all backgrounds, there is plenty of them where I live and it’s not a particularly working class area, but they exist still, riding their e-bikes, smoking weed in the street wearing black hoodies with faces covered or their girlfriends with make-up applied with a shovel…. But their parents have big houses, nice cars and good jobs,
What is the appropriate collective noun for these type of kids these days?!

I'll trust the reputable sources. First link is from Cambridge University's website

Not all working class people are chavs, don’t be silly OP. People don’t mean the entirety of the working class when they use the word chav (or scally as we used to say). Lots of people liked being considered chavs. Round me they would wear their trackie bottoms and their rockports proudly.

You mean you see working class people frequently, which is understandable given working class people are around half the British population.

Wearing sportswear is a very mainstream fashion style so it makes sense a huge chunk of working class people would wear sportswear. Doesn't make them the mythical "chavs" the media invented though!

Chavs don’t work, do they?

Trackie bottoms and Rockports were popular/mainstream fashion in the early 2000's where I live

Agreed @Andsomemore! Her poor friend, what a horror to have to listen to OP banging on about drivel when she’d had such an unpleasant experience.

She might not be rushing round in future

@waytoooldforthisshite - I’m really curiously to know what your definition of working class is…

I'd say roadmen is used more commonly now for boys who are like this and chav is definitely still used to describe the girls.

And I'll trust my lived experience.

Wow, your friend was hassled and was distressed and you rolled your eyes, lectured her about semantics due to your own hang ups and started a thread about her.

im not sure you know what the term friend means, but this isn’t it.

The snobbery on this post is palpable

Oh for goodness sake, you sound a bit annoying and up your own arse.
Maybe you could have tried supporting your friend instead.

A "Chav" is something invented by the media in the early 2000's, a caricature that's used to demonise the working class as violent and animalistic.

People see normal, working class lads in sportswear and think "oh, those are chavs" in the same way a fishermen who believes in Nessie sees a big fish and goes "oh, there's Nessie". The chav myth has long been debunked

https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/12930/05-10-2011/chav-hate-is-class-hate/

To quote the above article; "But the Chav myth dangerously tries to divide sections of working people against one another."

Note the word "myth"

Your friend is so embarrassing using the word ‘chav’

they are now called ‘road men’

Oooh some dreadful hoodlums invaded my delicate consciousness. I’ll have to write a post about it because they are so gross

What is the correct term these days?

I thought a road man is a person who fixes roads. I must be officially getting old.

Working class people and chavs are not the same. You can have working class people that are chavs but not all working class are chavs.
Your friend has just been harassed in the street and your main concern was she called them chavs? I’d say your reaction is more out of line that her using the word chavs

Missing the point but what’s Nessie got to do with fish? It’s a dinosaur.

DC use the term chavs. And they definitely exist