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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

See all MNHQ comments on this thread

Original poster

To think I must be a chav, as MN has deemed me so?

286 replies

Heartbrokenmum73 · 23/12/2013 21:47

According to threads I've been reading lately, most things I do seem to be marking me (and my family) out as chavs.

I fed my children formula and jarred food - this is chavvy
My Mum likes cards that say Nanny and she sends relative-specific cards - chavvy
My children like to wear character clothing - chavvy
I shop at Tesco and sometimes even Asda - chavvy

AIBU to be a bit tired of seeing the word 'chav' on here lately? I've challenged it and said that it's offensive, but just get the 'well, it's only online, why are you bothered', as if that makes it ok.

Yes, I realise I'm being over-sensitive, but me and my family aren't 'chavs' and I'm tired of it being bandied about (along with 'common') to describe things that people see as beneath them.

OP posts:
HaroldTheGoat · 23/12/2013 22:47

My neighbour has red geraniums and she is middle class as they come, and I'm sure she thinks I am common.

Should I pop a note in her door? She must be a bit out of touch.

usualsuspect · 23/12/2013 22:47

Did you get in in the card factory?

SPsWantsCliffInHerStocking · 23/12/2013 22:47

Grumpy Don't let people here get to you. My whole life is a MN crime but fuck it.

Original poster
Heartbrokenmum73 · 23/12/2013 22:47

What is buckfast?

OP posts:
HaroldTheGoat · 23/12/2013 22:48

I got it from a Clinton's outlet store in the welsh valleys.

Wearing a tracksuit whilst smoking a fag.

JRmumma · 23/12/2013 22:48

I'm probably a chav by most MNers standards. Well the standards they most likely are only pretending to have when they post so as to make themselves feel superior.

The ASDA thing kills me. Why is ASDA chavvy but ALDI practically the holy grail? I love ALDI but if I was to give a chav rating to it, it would be higher than ASDA.

I have mum in my nickname but its not a reference to me being a mum, its a DALLAS in-joke reference from my childhood. Is that more or less chavvy???

SPsWantsCliffInHerStocking · 23/12/2013 22:48

Robin No of Corse now. It was Adidas poppers Grin

All the lads had Rockport jumpers from the catalogues.

Original poster
Heartbrokenmum73 · 23/12/2013 22:49

I've even been known to send my Mum one of those 'From the cat' cards for her birthday.

And I buy cards in Card Factory!

OP posts:
usualsuspect · 23/12/2013 22:49

Clintons is a bit posh.

You need to leave the thread.

MurderOfGoths · 23/12/2013 22:49

Oh and no rockports here, just fake adidas/reebok trainers.

SPsWantsCliffInHerStocking · 23/12/2013 22:50

Reebok classics that had soles so thick that it was like walking in moon boots

Original poster
Heartbrokenmum73 · 23/12/2013 22:51

I would shop at Aldi and Lidl if:

a) they weren't two buses away from me (not very practical)

and

b) they didn't seem to be selling predominantly ski-wear.

I assume if I did all my grocery shopping in Aldi I could afford to go skiing. Is that how it works?

OP posts:
Sparklyboots · 23/12/2013 22:52

My son has a Hello Kitty pushchair, which lifts it from tacky and gendering to contemporary and witty, no?

Chav is about a class of people, it's about social positioning, so I think it's not really the same as saying tacky - saying something is tacky is commenting on someone's taste and not social position. So even if it is quite sneery to say someone's taste is tacky, it's not discriminatory as it does not mobilise class as an insult.

I shop on the market, which is both aspirational and cheap. As well as dangerous, in this weather.

grumpyoldbat · 23/12/2013 22:52

Buckfast is a tonic wine made by monks. It's fairly strong and relatively cheap. Tends to be abused around my way anyway. You'll find empty and broken bottles littering various places especially at weekends.

LumpySpacePrincessOhMyGlob · 23/12/2013 22:53

Heartbrokenmum73 I was being ironic. Xmas Wink

We are currently going through an Adventure Time and a My Little Pony phase.
Didn't the word chav originally mean child? I heard it first used in a derogatory term years ago in east Kent, then it just took off as a term of abuse.

SPsWantsCliffInHerStocking · 23/12/2013 22:53

Rather have my MD 20/20

Original poster
Heartbrokenmum73 · 23/12/2013 22:55

Buckfast is a tonic wine made by monks.

Where do you all live that there are monks with a distillery?

This is turning into an episode of Horrible Histories.

At the risk of derailing my own thread, did anyone catch the (repeated) Christmas Horrible Histories yesterday?

Roland the Farter still makes me howl Grin

OP posts:
grumpyoldbat · 23/12/2013 22:55

I'm the opposite heartbrokenmum. I've only the choice of Lidl and Coop within walking distance. I find Co-op expensive and our local one has very little choice.

Original poster
Heartbrokenmum73 · 23/12/2013 22:56

We are currently going through an Adventure Time and a My Little Pony phase.

Please, please tell me you have these on the same t-shirt.

I would wear that myself.

OP posts:
FandangoLaLaLaLaLaLaLaaaa · 23/12/2013 22:57

SP do they still do 20/20 near you? I've looked for it everywhere. Wanted to buy it as a nostalgic 30th present for my friend earlier this year.

LambinsideaDuckinsideaTrout · 23/12/2013 22:57

this sums up chavvy for me.. Grin

grumpyoldbat · 23/12/2013 22:58

The monks in question here are at Buckfastleigh Abbey AFAIK. Historically most abbeys would have made wine or beer I think. Was safer than water back in the old days.

Original poster
Heartbrokenmum73 · 23/12/2013 22:58

Grumpy - where I now live we had nothing but Co-Ops. It is stupidly expensive. And they sell something for awhile, let you get used to it, then stop selling it - and you can't find it in any other shop!

Then a big Tesco was built.

And lo, the people did shop. And it was good.

OP posts:
southeastastra · 23/12/2013 22:58

i embrace my chavvy tendencies, like a drink with the old dodgy geezers and wear a bit of bling now and again.

it's more fun that looking through the boden catalogue and ofsted reports

SPsWantsCliffInHerStocking · 23/12/2013 22:59

I think the shop I used to get it from still has it.

I loved the orange one. Couldn't imagine it now. That and Cherry Lambrini