To think 'chav' is not an okay thing to call people?

[enternow99]

I find the use of chav on Mumsnet shocking. Is this name chavvy? Is this holiday destination chavvy? Is this outfit chavvy? Chavs moved in next door (I'm a leaseholder, they rent!!!!)

I understand its snobbiness but isn't it a bit horrible?

eing a chav isn't a racist slur as it's not a race

Romanies and Gypsies have been recognised as an ethnic minority since 2010. It's no longer open season on the Romanies or Gypsies.

Oh you are actually hilarious now.
You are right, we should all aspire to get our England flag with artfully arranged cock tattoo across our back as soon as possible, won't we all look lovely! Whilst we're at it maybe we could have a sleeve done, I particularly like those of naked women in pornographic poses, if you can get a misspelled quote underneath with a few swear words in, obviously all the better.
I'm sure you would absolutely love living surrounded by chavs wouldn't you? Since we shouldn't judge of course. I sincerely hope you are not typing this from a nice little 3 bed in a lovely exclusive village and haven't met a chav in real life? Because as I have pointed out numerous times, regardless of how they look it is the antisocial behaviour that makes someone a true chav.
But I must remember not to label these fine specimens of humanity, I might hurt their feelings.....oh yeah that's right, they couldn't give a toss about anyone's feelings when they are being antisocial 🤷‍♀️

We can decide what/who offends our eyes and our sensibilities

Water closet??

Don't be so silly. Of course people know. What on earth makes you think people don't

Some people are chavs. So should be called it. Without the pearl clutching from the ‘be kind’ brigade.

It’s not a disability or a characteristic that they don’t control. No one makes these people wear big nasty cheap looking jewellery, long fake talons in lieu of normal fingernails, seeeping brush eyelashes, fish lips and designer brands with logos all over the place.

Its a short single word that conveys a lot of meaning. We all immediately know what is meant. Yes op could use 5 or 6 more formal words but the subtlety & meaning would be less clear.

Chav is not about social class, ffs.
It is a descriptor for a well-defined 'community' with certain common (as in many, not the way it is always interpreted here) traits.
Began in the 80s and has waxed and waned since.

YANBU it's used on MN to mean WC.
Water closet??

Working class and i don't think it is. I know lots of working class people who are not chavvy at all and some rather well off people who are.

Chav was never an acronym. When chavs were first defined, it was a set of traits, behaviours and clothing which defined them.
This stupid acronym came about a decade later, where from who knows, but probably the midfle-classes who were torturing themselves into defining what they don't have a clue about.
Because those of those that were alive at the start of 'chave' know that most council house dwellers are not violent or criminal; chave was a separate set of people

So it's not about behavior then as many have claimed on this thread, it's about a look?

Keep polishing that halo

Myother yes we had neighbours who behaved as you described and frankly it can ruin your life. Hell. We moved.

It’s not a descriptor of lower income families it’s a descriptor of a patten of behaviour.

Sorry but the gentle right on souls on this thread have never lived in proximity to people demonstrating these behaviours. If you did you would never defend them. So naive.

Some people are chavs. So should be called it. Without the pearl clutching from the ‘be kind’ brigade.

And once more for the ignorant and hard of thinking:

The word Chav come from Chavvy, the Romany word for child. Like kid, or kiddie. Chav was used as an insult, to compare bad behaviour to that of a Romany child.
The fact that perhaps you are too young to know that is irrelevant. It may have dropped into common parlance for some of you, but it still means the same thing.
It does not mean anything else. I can guarantee the people you are calling Chavs are not.

I do not know the french word for child, nor the swahili, nor the urdu, but I can guarantee that if I started saying you are such a 'swahili word for child' to denegrate someone's clothing or actions I would be banned, and quite rightly so.
Would you consider those that banned me as pearl clutching? Would you consider them kind and rational, or part of the 'be kind brigade?'

If I used the urdu word for child and applied it to to drunken loud and aggressive behaviour what do you think would happen?
Why do the posters on here think they can use the children of an ethnic minority as an insult?

I will call out bad behaviour, I will probably swear, what I will not do is attribute their behaviour to their genetic origins.

So that is your only take from that very long detailed post? Talk about selective reading.

She virtually admitted that chav means council housed. So I'll take from her long detailed post what I will.

Doesn't mean that you have the right to call people names.

Why do you think you have the right to call people names because of what they choose to wear?

@Gingerdancedbackwards as I have said SEVERAL times people clearly have different views and ideas about what the word means and this thread proves that .
People believe completely different things about what it means or what it's origins are.
So yes - it's outdated and as an insult people don't really know what it means - because it seems to mean completely different things to different people.

How many people offended by the use of the word "chav" have no problem using the word "gammon".

Those of us old enough to be at the 'start' of the 'chav', are far better placed to provide the definition.

The same could be said of the opposite. I don't use either personally.

Indeed. Or 'toff'.

@Gingerdancedbackwards your definition of the word.
What you believe.
That doesn't mean when other people use the word they are using it for the same meaning that you would.
That's why I said it's outdated because the word has evolved too much to have an "accepted" meaning.

See previous posts.
It's clearly still a term in use, and the original 'definition' is the definition. If it were only my definition as you suggest, no-one would know what I was talking about.