in thinking that the word 'chav' is an overused and lazy term to describe anything we feel is vulgar ?

[MaryAnnSingleton]

it annoys me that it's applied so often on mumsnet

I agree totally

Also used to describe anything that doesn't meet up to some peoples standards (and who are they to judge anyway?!)

Totally agree, it has the bizarre effect on me of actually wanting to go out and be a chav just to get up peoples' noses.
If only I actually knew what a chav was, I am a little bit unclear on that to be honest. I always think of it as the kind of term that replaced what my mother used to describe as 'common' and I also loathe that phrase too. Makes me cringe and think 'SNOB'.

Message withdrawn

hate hate hate the word. it's offensive yet acceptable

'chav' does mean something - there was a thing on the radio this morning and I vaguely recollect it being possibly a Romany word - I think people have just taken it and are using it willy nilly regardless of it's original meaning - I'd rather people said 'common' if they meant it that way

it's ghastly and ill-mannered. i hate it, and i think it says more about the user than the person being described, tbh.

but at least if someone uses common they know they are setting themselves up as a right old snob. chav is so acceptable...

OUP says this...
chav /tæv/ noun (BrE, slang) a young person, often without a high level of education, who follows a particular fashion: There are always loads of chavs hanging round the shopping centre. Chavs usually wear designer labels, and if they?re girls, very short skirts and stilettos. Chavs still see branded baseball caps as a status symbol and wear them at every opportunity.
adj. [only before noun]: The bus was full of chav kids. chav girls with their big gold jewellery
In Britain there are many words to describe people from this social group, and they are often limited to a particular town or region. Other words with a similar meaning to chav are townie, scally, ned and charver. The word chav has become common in southern England, and is generally thought to come from Chatham girls (Chatham is a town in Kent.) Some people think, however, that the word comes originally from the Romany word chavo (boy), which is also the origin of the Spanish word chaval.

"Makes me cringe and think 'SNOB'"

surely your use of the word snob' is just as bad though?

it annoys me as it's an english term but has gotten into the irish mainstream when it has no basis here.

look at the comments on our local site (if you're interested!)

To hear someone describe something or someone as 'chav' screams to me of a substandard vocabulary. There are many words that can be used in place of 'chav'.

Amusingly, I hear it spouted most from the be-baseballed capped proletariat to whom it indirectly refers.

To hear the term 'chav' very often will lead me to believe the person using it to be both vulgar, snobbish (in a 'Dorien' from 'Birds of a feather' way) and ignorant.

There was an article on this very subject in The Guardian yesterday: www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/jul/15/socialexclusion

different thing, but I feel similarly about the laziness of 'acholic' being attached to any thing, particularly 'chocoholic'- 'workaholic' - it has no sense !

Daisy (love your name I'm guessing where it came from !) that was what the radio piece was based on

I hate it. Nasty, lazy and indiscriminate.
I am glad to say I don't know any chavs. All my friends are real human beings.

dreoles sounds better !

I did wonder fio.

But.... sorry... what are they

I thought that creoles were people of mixed race from the New Orleans area.

Well I own some creoles and I shall now be wearing them with pride. Would love to know what a dreole is though

i prefer the word 'ned' actually