Chelsea smile

[PunkAssMoFo]

Some nut job that I know has just called her dd this. She thinks it's funny.

It's none of my business what anyone calls their child, but AIBU to be upset on the child's behalf?

[aermingers]

Yes it was very frightening for a 10 year old. Part of the reason why I remember it so vividly. And it was not true. It might have happened someone somewhere. But the Chelsea Smilers did not exist, no matter how many po faced statements about it being a 'very real' someone who clearly doesn't remember the circumstances around the 'Chelsea Smilers' at all wants to make.

It's in poor taste but the people it refers to were non-existent.

[Iliveinalighthousewiththeghost]

WTAF. Is this mother seriously deranged! That's all I have to say.

[GhoulWithADragonTattoo]

I think Norway is right. This is a (bad taste) joke. They are intending to call the child Chelsea ( quite a nice name) for a joke they are saying the middle name will be Smile. In fact it will be Louise or whatever.

[shggg245]

Hopefully the registrars will flag it. What an awful name - poor little thing. Fingers crossed the Mother comes to her senses!

[DarkHeart]

Arghhh Don't google image!!

[shggg245]

Agree with cocolepew - many of my colleagues have pretty sheltered lives and are really not up with gang land lingo. Depends where in the country.

[Cocolepew]

Would a registar even know what it meant? Especially when it is used with a surname.

[shggg245]

The registrar will need to get advice from general register office - if it's classed as offensive I doubt it'll be allowed. It's without doubt in very poor taste but I'm not sure whether it'd be classed as offensive. Watching with interest. Tbh I'd not heard of it - and I'm educated!

[Nicename]

Can a registrar refuse to register a name though?

[TSSDNCOP]

It is not a myth urban or otherwise. It is a very real and hideous form of torture. The person that is considering this as a name for their child is offensively stupid. No way will a registrar allow it.

[MrsJuice]

Sister of Dee Capitated?
Vile proposition for a tiny baby!
Hopefully the registrar is educated enough to prevent this, if friends don't talk sense before then.

[JemimaButtons]

Chelsea smile is the same as a Glasgow smile. It maybe never happened in Chelsea. But it it most definitely happened in Glasgow.

As a PP said, the Scottish actor Tommy Flanagan (starred in Sons of Anarchy anongst other things) has the scars of a Glasgow smile.

It's appalling that your "friend" has named her child this. Please report back to let us know if the Registrar vetoed it.

[emmelinelucas]

Whe I was at school, the rumour was that it was skinheads doing this - "Does your mother sew ? ---slash "

[SevenZarkSeven]

Erm well TBF that doesn't sound true to me either aermingers and I've never heard it before - I think I'm a bit younger than you so missed that one! I can imagine it being quite traumatising to hear when you're 10 though that people are going around hurting school children.

[londonrach]

Googled..i feel sick. Defriend if on fb. What parent would do that. Is it the same as glasgow smile?

[londonrach]

What does chelsea smile mean?

[aermingers]

That is not accurate. It's definitely not accurate. In the late 80s the rumour about the Chelsea Smilers went round schools in London and the South East very rapidly. I remember it happening. Supposedly the Chelsea Headhunters were driving around in a blue van with an acid smiley on the side going to schools and lining up children and asking them what football team they supported. If they said anyone except Chelsea then they supposedly gave them a Chelsea Smile. People started keeping their kids home from school.

The police had to step in and tell people it was untrue, it was in the national press and the police also came out and visited schools to tell people that it was absolutely untrue and they had not received any complaints or were aware of such incidences happening.

The Chelsea Smilers were just an urban myth. I don't know about elsewhere but I remember this all happening very clearly, I was 10, the rumour went round my school and I remember it all vividly. It was completely untrue.

[GoringBit]

I'd never heard of Chelsea Smile, but when I saw this thread, I thought it might be something like a pearl necklace, but, ahem, higher.

So pleased I didn't Google it. Real or not, it's giving me the heebee-jeebies.

[Stupidhead]

I thought in some cases two utility knife blades were stuck together for this to ensure a scar that can't be stitched.

[SevenZarkSeven]

Wiki has info as usual but who knows how accurate!

"A Glasgow smile (also known as a Glasgow, Chelsea, or Cheshire grin) is a wound caused by making small cuts on the corners of a victim's mouth, then beating or stabbing him or her until the muscles in the face contract, causing the cuts to extend up the cheeks to the victim's ears. This leaves a scar in the shape of a smile, hence the name.[1][2][3]
The act is usually performed with a utility knife or a piece of broken glass,[4] leaving a scar which causes the victim to appear to be smiling broadly and may lead to death by exsanguination (blood-loss) if left untreated.
The practice is said to have originated in Glasgow, Scotland,[citation needed] but became popular with English street gangs (especially among the Chelsea Headhunters,[5] a London-based hooligan firm, where it is known as a "Chelsea grin" or "Chelsea smile")."

[SevenZarkSeven]

I think maybe we've heard different myths?

I know what a Chelsea Smile is and I'm sure that people have had it done to them all over the world. People do all sorts of things to each other.

I don't know what a "Chelsea Smiler" is though so am guessing it's a gang / thing or something that people heard when they were children that was scary?

I only heard of it in the context of "this is what it is" and TBF that is what it is, whether any number of people have actually had it done to them in Chelsea (by people from Chelsea?) or not.

[aermingers]

I don't know if it did happen in Glasgow but I know for absolute certainty that the Chelsea Smilers did not ever exist. Ever. It was completely untrue. The police had no reports or corroborating evidence. The Chelsea Smilers are an urban legend.

[SevenZarkSeven]

You really can't call a child that

I can only assume she doesn't know what it means.

[Boysclothes]

One of the actors in sons of anarchy has a real life Glasgow smile.