Calling someone a 'chav'

[GuardianOfMyGalaxy]

Aibu to think that the word 'chav' is derogatory and shouldn't be used?

It's said in the baby name boards a lot, and to me, describing something as 'chav' or 'chavvy' is in the same manner as describing something as pikey or ghetto.

Am I being over sensitive and it's just banter, or is it as classist and stereotypical as I believe?

It's only used as an insult on MN.

It just means 'things that we see as beneath us'

In RL it isn't used as much or in the same way.

Haha there was a baby thread once that had my daughters first name , second name and the name that was also onnmy lost of wants in the chav catergory.

One of the names was hope and the comment was something like

Chavvy mums who spend life on benefits calling their babies hope even though they spend theirnlifes smoking dope and sweat like troppers so the kids have no hope anyway :0

To be fair, Proud, Grandma IS preferable!

Cats, that can't be right, because going to America the sun is on the port side, coming back it's on the starboard.

Substitute India for America and you've got it. As any fule kno.

soya call my mum grandma and you'd better run fast

Where does la de dah come from because that's what my Mum calls her stuck up neighbour as in er next door Mrs bleddy la de dah all lace curtains and no knickers

It's used as an insult on MN

It's a horrible word. I think it's derogatory and classist.

Must be, it's genuinely not as awful a thing to say as it is for everyone else on this thread currently. The worst insinuation of being called a chav is that the chavee is a bit over the top in their fashion and silly amounts of £££ spent on it

I say currently, am hoping someone else will concur otherwise I really do live in nowheresville

It is classist. On the baby names board it means a WC name.

this thread because a lot of people would call me snobby but i'm one of the few who see that as a compliment as opposed to insulting.

It is used as a derogatory and classist insult.

Its used to demonise the working class as Owen Jones demonstrated with the title of his book.

You like to look down on people do you, pipsqeak?

Owen Jones is a twat
.

So on the baby name board, what do you consider to be acceptable when someone asks about a possible name? How would you describe a name as having possible negative associations without it coming across as insulting?

Surely as soon as you say 'I don't like Tarquin as a name, it's too posh' that is insulting? Won't the whole baby names board disintegrate if people can't be honest about how a name makes them instantly react?

Or do you need to say 'I don't like the name Tarquin it makes me think of people who have more land than money but a level of confidence that I envy'? (or however you would define 'posh')

Course its an insult.
But if you object to it you will get a raft of responses claiming it is much much harder being 'posh' on MN because everyone is mean to you.
And then your heart bleeds and you die.

No says they don't like Tarquin. People on here love it. Some name suggestions are hilarious.

But mention a K name or a name not 648392 years old and you are chavvy apparently.

smoke no, i don't look down on anyone, but some of my interests in life would probably be regarded as being 'very middle class' which to me is stupid, everyone should be able to like and do what they like in life, but when i mentioned a hobby of mine on here once i had heck knows how many people saying i bu for liking it and they were being rude to me ! - so for that reason i'm saying no more on the subject.
i don't care about class, skin colour or how much money anyone has, live and let live is my motto.

I used the term chav on the other thread. It's not about people being poorer than me. The term was/is (albeit not so commonly now) used generally in my area to describe behaviour and clothing style, not bank balance

bingo

Don't get it?

Of course it's derogatory. As used on the baby names board, it means roughly 'Unapologetically Working Class and Doomed Never to Rise Like Jack and Sophie, Which Is What You Should Be Calling Your Children, You Thicko.'

I thought it stood for "council house adolescent vermin" a teacher told me that!

So yes bad. It's the UK version of "ghetto"

Think you've just proven the point, Empire