...to object to the use of the word 'chav'?

[MariaFormosa]

I wouldn't refer to any other group of people by a derogatory/contemptuous name, so why is this so widely accepted? Isn't it just as prejudiced as some well-known racist terms which, thank god, are unacceptable in everyday conversation? It's really starting to get to me when I hear people (even some pretty good friends) talk about "chavs" or something being chavvy - it makes me cringe ... yet I've not been quite brave enough to challenge/question it. Just read a post where someone referred to someone as being "a bit chavvy" .. AIBU to think it's being contemptuous? What does it really mean?

The other day I saw a teenager wearing a Burberry waist coat. he lookded like a giant rich woman's poodle :o

If the label fits then why not wear the hat that goes with it?

So it's not a class thing? Am genuinely interested in what people think ... is it making a judgement about someone based on their class? Or AI really BU and it's more about what people wear etc ...?

I hate this word, it's perjorative and lazy.

So it's not just me? Do you ever say anything if you hear it used?

Horrible word, horrible attitude. YANBU.

it is a class thing, sort of - IIRC the word is an acronym for Council Housed And Violent and the associated clothing worn by such people is typically tracksuits / baseball caps, so I guess the image sticks

I hate it. I really do.

I don't hear it used that much, I read it more on Mumsnet than I hear it in real life . My husband doesn't use it, my friends don't use it. My Mum used it once and I asked her not to use it. Its just another way of meaning "common" imo, only lots of people swear its not like that all.

I agree with wiggles, it is an expression that once would have been "rough" or "common". You can be common and be very rich, think Marlene from Only Fools and Horses

That's interestng, LewisFan - hadn't heard of that derivation. So it is essentially mocking (primarily) poor people? In that case, it's weird how freely people use it, isn't it?

I think the "Council Housed and Violent" acronym was invented after the fact.

I don't object to the word at all. As long as it is not used to denigrate all working-class people (and it really isn't). The people that hate chavs the most are those that have to live around them.

YANBU. I am shocked by how many people (mostly on Mumsnet TBH) seem to think it is acceptable.

I thought it was people with more money than taste?

Jordan, the rooneys, Kk, Jodie marsh et al.

Class and council housing doesn't come into it.

Sorry - x-posted! Glad to hear you asked your mum not to use it, wigglesrock - also interested you know very few people who use it ... I can think of a few examples recently (eg: a friend saying she wouldn't move to an area because it was "a bit chavvy") ... and she is a fairly well educated, enlightened person. Thought I was maybe being a bit uptight, but maybe not...?

When I was at university in the late 1990's the word 'charver' was used to describe the people I guess now would probably be called chavs. To be honest I don't l think it just a class thing; lots of working class people are most definitely not what you could describe as chavs. To my mind its just the latest easy label for people who maybe used to be to be scallies or townies or whatever...

YANBU. I really dislike the word and believe it comes from the gypsy/traveller word for child. I also hate the word 'underclass' and think that both words are dismissive and dehumanising. Their use makes it easier for us to accept the idea of the 'feckless poor' and to support the reduction of services and support in disadvantaged areas.

IMO it's no different to the Chris Rock "Black People vs ***" thing. The people that hate them the most are those that have to live near them and probably get tarred with the same brush to some extent. The people offended by the word are those that live nowhere near the people in question and see them as some kind of victims of oppression, when nothing could be further from the truth.

Apols for horrendous typos!

YANBU. Nasty word.

I don't think anyone can honestly deny the class implications of the word chav. Just because you may not think that all working class people are chavs, most people would admit that the vast majority of the people they label chavs are working class. Thus it has its basis in class.

This book would be good reading for anyone who uses this word.

Chavs (Charvas) in the North-East of England are not working class people. They are an underclass (lumpenproletariat en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lumpenproletariat) of non working, violent, anti-social dishonest people.

Never heard of council housed and violent.

Are there people like that ? Yes. Should we judge? I have in the past, living as honest working class people alongside them and having been victims of their behaviour.

Nothing to do with class or wealth - and yes, 'council housed and violent' is a folk etymology. Chavs aren't defined by their background, but by their behaviour. If someone were to call someone a chav because they were poor or working class, that would offend me hugely - but as long as it applies to a group of people who choose to act in a certain way, no problem with it at all.

CHAV was used in the context "Council House and Violent" by the police force some time ago. It is now used as a horrible judgey derogative term from everything from speech to clothes- and whilst we are at it what makes it ok to make tv programmes about traveller communities so others can sit at home and be all snidey and think we are so much better than others and make judgement on other cultures than ours?.

But isn't the Chris Rock thing about reclaiming a demeaning label so it loses its power? Has that happened with the chav label?

Awful sneering nasty word

YANBU. I have banned this word from our house. It's a cruel and prejudiced term used to insult disadvantaged people.