...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?

BLOBBY.

Disadvantaged people who behave in a certain anti social way/ Not just disadvantaged people.

Ah but , when you live on a council estate and are described as a chav because of where you live , it does kinda get on your nerves.

Hate it. If I hear someone use it 9and it seems many people do, freely) they go down in my estimation.

mixedclassbaby is correct in that it is a Roma term for child. As Romas are widely prejudice against and believed to be nothing more than theives, it has been applied to the part of our society that we perceive to be most like gypsy folk.

In my experience, chavs are, essentially, the twats and the bullies of society - to me, money has no bearing on whether you're deserving of the term, only attitude and behaviour.

When I lived up north, we called them "townies" before the word chav came into more popular use. I loathe them with a passion, and think we should have a word with negative connotations to use for them. Admittedly, chav is not a good example, but tbh not that many people who use the word actually know where it comes from, so in a way it's become a slur on its own terms.

Really though, if people use it to mean the working poor generally, then they're ignorant and/or prejudiced. Maybe I'll start using townie again.

My understanding is that it stands for Council House And Vulgar and that it describes young people that dress in a vulgar way i.e. flaunting designer gear

The acronyms were invented after it was introduced

YANBU

Need a thread warning to put sunglasses on with that, StrandedBear!

Terrible word Daily Mail style classification of people perceived to be lower than the person using the word I hate it every time I hear it I cringe and feel very very

so no YADNBU

I hate the term chav. this book is very good.

YANBU

It is just a way for the middle class to express their contempt for the working class.

There is actually a word I hate more than chav and is even more explicit in terms of its' class hatred and that is the Scottish word 'schemie.'

A housing scheme is a council estate. So it relates a type of negative behaviour/appearance directly to where people live. Horrid, horrid word, a woman I used to work with used to use it all the time. It made me grind my teeth in scarcely suppressed anger.

Owen Jones makes excellent points in this book, good call Akiss

I grew up on a council estate I wore Adidas trousers, drank Cider every friday night from the age of 14 with my mates.
I now live in rural Northamptonshire and am a trainee teacher, I am proud of my working class roots and I think that people who use the word Chav are just displaying their mass ignorance.

The Owen Jones book is excellent, and although I didn't like the word before I read it, it really gets my goat now. It's just a word that somehow has become socially acceptable which shows that a person is too lazy to find out what it really means and advertises their predjudices.

The word "pikey" is also banded about alot amongst the people I know and that also makes me seethe. How can people not realise how hurtful and damaging words can be????

I don't associate it with class.

I associate it with taste.
For example a friend of mine was dressed head to toe in a nike tracksuit one day. I said she looked like a chav. She earns more money than I do drives a lovely car owns her own home and was privately educated.
She laughed and called me a cheeky bitch (friendly banter).

Now the girl who lives down the street. She's a whole different story. She doesn't really take care of her kids, let's them invaid my garden and play on DS's toys when we're not even home (we came home and found them in the back garden on the slide ) and many more things.

I call her the rough scrubber.

I like to think I'm a bit common really (northern working class with a broad accent). I don't think I would be called a chav though.

I think its all about how people perceive it and how people use it. I would still use it but only in the bad taste way.

Yeah, it definitely says more about the people using the word, than those they are describing

Swimming: that argument sounds rather like the one Ricky Gervais used to excuse the use of a prejudiced and distasteful word. Suggesting that a word means something different to you than what it actually means doesn't make it ok.

YADNBU. I hate this term.

xstargirl, No, the twats and bullies of society are the bankers that have screwed this country up.

I was brought up on a council estate and worked bloody hard to get to university, for many of my friends, with less supportive parents, there was no way out. They are still there, proudly wearing Addidas until they can afford a porsche to flaunt instead.

I hate this, my 14yo refers to kids at her school this way and I have banned it from my home. Lazy, pejoritive, unkind...... and many more adjectives.

YABU... It's just slang shorthand for a group of people. Exactly the same as 'toffs' & 'boffins' have entered the lexicon. I've personally always thought 'chav' meant 'fur coat and no knickers'... tasteless, ostentatious and lacking in manners.

Most people I know say it and most say it in the context oh I love that its proper chavvy, hes sexy chavved up etc. here its more what your wearing like your jd sports gear etc.