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Just feels so outdated now.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?

But gammon is fine?

Go to Blackpool on a Friday or Saturday night. You'll see plenty of chavs there. (I was born in Blackpool and its a shell of its former self)

I prefer the word cunts to describe those who harass others.

Didn’t Enid Blyton write about chavs living in a tree? Or was that fairies?

They have gravy on chips don’t they?

My teenager calls them roadmen.... He is usually referring to them as the ones who ruin the class.

Care to explain how it's "batshit" when I've backed things up with reputable sources?

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-social-policy/article/owen-jones-2011-chavs-the-demonization-of-the-working-class-london-verso-1499-pp-298-pbk/1F6232EE711CD669AB339522C12FDEC0

"It was the Tories that 'placed the chav myth at the heart of British politics"

https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/12930/05-10-2011/chav-hate-is-class-hate/ "But the Chav myth dangerously tries to divide sections of working people against one another."

https://eathealthy365.com/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-chav-in-british-culture/ " No, people did not generally self-identify as “chavs.” "

If Cambridge University has an article saying chavs are a myth, I'll believe it over a bunch of anecdotes not to dissimilar to the people who have anecdotes of seeing Nessie or Bigfoot. It's actually worse than that, because "chav" is a myth with roots in class-hatred.

I promise you OP 'chavs' most definitely do still exist.

Written by Owen Jones. Come on, OP.

But you are missing the point which is she was stressed after being harassed, and letting off steam about.
Who cares if chavs go under a different name these days.

Ha! It sounds as if you've read ONE article and decided that is gospel. That is incredibly narrow minded of you, don't you think?

This 🤣

Owen Jones, FFS

It’s not that deep is it. Jeez

Ok, so you have unilaterally decided that though the word still exists, chavs themselves do not.

Yet posters on this very thread say they very much do still exist, they, personally, see and know them.

How can you decide/ declare they do not exist? I don't understand!

Are you perhaps getting confused by mermaids?

I read that Owen Jones book years ago, it’s a load of shite. DD summed it up perfectly as “a particular awful persuasive essay”.

First rule of arguing: If you're quoting Owen Jones to back up your argument then you've just lost your argument

🤣🤣🤣

I think that friend is Little OJ

You say that like lots of people aren't adamant that other mythical things are real such as fairies, ghosts, Nessie, etc

These days chav women all have bad lip filler and laminated brows. There's a few in my estate.

There nothing like working class people. Even if they do mostly work.

Sigh.
All words are technically “made up” OP.

And it doesn’t mean what a lot of people think it means.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chav

Oh, OP, this is just embarrassing. Firstly you were a dickhead to your friend, telling her off for her language rather than emphasising with her intimidating experience.

Secondly, the way you're talking about 'still believing' in chavs as if they are analogous to the tooth fairy or werewolves.

Finally thinking that Owen Jones' (who couldn't be further from an unbiased source) book is somehow endorsed by the intellectual rigour of Cambridge University - it's only linked on that website because it's published by CU Press - it could equally have been published by Penguin or Random House. The book itself has literally nothing to do with the university.

Fine to say that you think that the term chav is derogatory and outdated, but it's ridiculous to deny that the sub group of people it refers to just 'don't exist.'

The friend doesn’t exist. The OP, for reasons best known to herself, decided she fancied an argument about chavs today. So, here we are.

Some people need hobbies. 🤣

they're.
(Was distracted judging a neighbour for bringing their bins in three days late. Not a chav household though).

There were other sources I listed pointing out that chavs don't really exist that weren't written by Owen Jones.