Did you have "Goldies" in school?

[Azzure]

Ok not sure if this was just a local thing but when I was at school there were very clear groups. We did not have a uniform, so the cliques were obvious straight away. You had the nerds, the quiet ones, the artsy kids who drew anime in class, the emos, the wannabe beauticians with bleached blonde hair and extensions, the goths, and the kids who didnt really fit anywhere. Then there were the 'goldies', who I got on with best. They were mostly lads, apart from me and one other girl. I called them that because they always wore something gold, usually a chain, bracelet or ring, probably cheap gold plated stuff. They dressed a bit gangster with caps indoors and baggy grey or white tracksuits, like old school American rappers. They looked like they were trying to cosplay early Eminem or something. They loved playing R&B and this beaty House music. They looked intimidating but were actually really kind, loyal, and funny. If someone was having trouble they'd look out for them. Not great at school though, as they were always messing about in lessons

Did anyone else have 'em or was it just a local thing on my end?

Not heard of goldies but sounds like what we would’ve called townies, charvers or later, chavs

It was the standard for my school, inner city Glasgow, in the 90s

no uniform, everyone wore sportswear and gold jewellery. Goths, emos etc just weren’t allowed to exist

even the “boffin types” wore Kappa

Very unusual not to have a uniform in the UK, was it a private school?

I had no idea school uniforms weren’t common in Scotland in the 90s! Was that just Glasgow or Scotland in general?

No idea, I didn’t go to other schools

These would have been called townies in my day. Now they would be called chavs

I've heard of townies, since someone mentioned it in the thread. Isn't 'chavs' an insult though that's kind of synonymous with the phrase 'white trash' in America?

Yes, I'd say so. Unfortunately that style of dressing with gold jewellery etc is very much linked with chavs now

Goldies wasn't a thing in my school, possibly by the time I went to secondary school (1996) this kind of look was already seen as pretty naff.

There were sort of cliques but they weren't as pronounced or homogenous as I've seen described elsewhere. More friendship groups than based on a specific look or interest.

It wasn't seen as an insult when I was at school (late 90s) it was just a group. Same as the emos and swots etc.

I think I’m a bit older than you. I don’t remember that term but we certainly did have cliques and groups of kids but I don’t remember them having specific names as such. It was most clearly illustrated in 6th year when we had a common room and three distinct groups of tables. The ‘normal’ kids were in the middle of the room- average to above average intelligence, not ‘quirky’, considered to be average looking or a bit better, well liked, confident. The ‘popular’ kids claimed the area nearest the cooking facilities that the room had- cocky, considered conventionally good looking, usually average to below average intelligence and considered it not cool to do well in school, but some were smarter, outspoken, some of them bullies, the kids most likely to be drinking and taking drugs and sleeping around. Then the third group nearest the door were the ‘geeks’ but generally other random outcasts would congregate there as well. Not popular or considered attractive but usually doing well academically. I was in the third group…..

I attended schools in Glasgow and I don’t know of any school which didn’t have a school uniform back then so not common at all ime.

I went to 3 different secondary schools due to frequent house moves / relocations and recognise the clique described as 'townies', 'scallies', 'chavs' (council housed and violent), and Neds (non educated delinquents) - all terms used by other cliques, but also teachers! Shocking really when you think back, and this is only 20 years ago! The style would be gold argos jewellery, rockports, gelled hair, tracksuits and tucked into socks! Oh and fake burberry hats! One school had a goth clique, one had Jacks - never figured out what that meant!

I would have hated to have been in a such a school. I thought these types of clique only existed in US movies!

No, we wore a strict uniform and it was an all girls school, but I think these would have been children we would have referred to as Townies. I first came across them when I was at university and living in a city (came from a very leafy Home Counties rural area). These days they would be ‘chavs’ maybe? I’m not sure. None of my son’s friends dress like that, but again we live rurally and they go to a private school. My eldest will wear baggy jeans and a t-shirt surfer style (he is a surfer) on occasion but rugby shirts and shorts are the main clothing boys around here seem to wear.

Isn't what happened at your school one of the arguments for school uniform?

I went to school in the 1970s and I don't recall different friendship groups having these kinds of names. The term chav wasn't used then, and hair extensions hadn't been invented.

Haven’t heard that term. However they sound like “chavs” where we are.