to eradicate the words 'chavvy' and 'common' from the MN lexicon

[OrmRenewed]

They are lazy words. They mean 'anything that I don't like and am not'. If you dislike something enough to issue a sweeping and insulting comment about it, have the decency to give accurate and precise reasons for it.

VERY common to mention how much your house is worth.

Also depends where it is - could be a mansion or a shed!

But (obviously) totally not relevant to whter or not you are common or a chav. Tis a state of mind not a purely economic status.

Runaway you obviously feel its an insult for people to think you live on a council estate ....
Anyway so much for my not liking the word chav,Ds said he was off down the park and he hoped it wasn't full of chavs [gives up]

LadyThompson I thoroughly agree with you regarding the Baby Names board. The chav accusations are vile. Often it's spiteful, DM-style and petit bourgeois petty.

My kids say that too. But then, that's because in their experience they are far more likely to be given grief/get beaten up by them, than any other sort of kid. Back to fitting the brief again....

He knows most of them tho ..he went to school with them

Well I think of that as being vulgar New Money , (or just vulgar wannabes who go into stupid amounts of debt in order to look rich, but just end up looking tacky.) And I think they are what my definition of a Chav aspires to be!

Besides, I think the plasmas/flat screens really should stop being the indicator of common chavdom or conspicious consumption now - they've been out for donkey's years and we all have to have them sooner or later, whether we like it or not!

Only old ladies who think plasmas are actually spaceships, and hardcore upper-middle class people who think it's a sign of weakness to have central heating still have analogue tellies.

TiggyR can't understand how you missed the sub text. Your posts are all aound it.

You obviously don't read the comments preceeding yours

I guess it helps that I am a speed reader so don't miss many post (unless they are utterly boring)

Oh I'm back and forward from my laptop trying to get something useful done and sometimes I don't realise there's been another post since I last looked. I thought you were rfereing to something waaaay back! Will look again....

i'm going to try really hard not to describe things as "chavvy" now I've learnt it derives from a romani word "chavi" meaning young boy. I think it's insulting to their language and their culture.

How would you describe the burbery sock wesring, baseball cap sporting abuse shouting "youth" that hang round Stockport precinct I'm not sure. Unfortunate? Unpleasant? I know they've got their "issues" (I've worked with such issued young people for years), they way they behave sometimes is still a PITA.

Angels - I must be really dim this morning Am I looking for a link, or it is just a comment?

Scanned all my posts and can't find anything near a link to, or decription of, somewhere that 'looks depressing'

Subtlety is clearly lost on me this morning.

BTW I've got a really big trampoline, so there. My neighbour is an old Etonian - perhaps I have driven him to drink with my flagrant poor taste. then again, he puts an England flag up during the world cup so I think we are quits.

Except that we all wrinkle our noses up when we see one!

Disclaimer: that was said with tongue firmly lodged in cheek. Don't flame me.

Runaway I grew up on council estate and my family still live on them. I may be a dirt common chav but I would never ever boast about how much my house was worth.

I have no big trampoline but I do have one of those big inflatable swimming pools.

I teach a burberry sock tucked into shiny tracksuit, with baseball cap and jewellery kid who hangs around shopping centres being a pain. He has been given a rough time at our school, he is not a saint but I think he gets judged harshly by a bunch of middle classed teachers because of the ways he looks. He is actually one of the brightest young men I have ever taught and has always been perfectly respectful to me because he knows I respect and "get" him. If he can learn to play the game he could be a future Oxbridge student. I hate to think that people judge this remarkable young man because of the way he looks. I know how that feels.

But in order to achieve, he will need to step out of his comfort zone, take a leap of faith, and he will be judged by his peers, who will think he's a jumped up googy-goody wanker. Can't win!

As I said he needs to learn how to play the game, I don't think he should have to change who he is though.

No, but his peers will reject him if they think he is a swot, with lofty edcuational aspirations, which is very tough for boys like him. Peer pressure is by far the biggest influence on teenagers, which is why so many parents are desperate to keep their children out of what they perceive to be bad schools full of children from low-achieving families.

I didn't suggest he should change who he is, but he will be judged by his peers if they think he's showing signs of being 'too good' for them, and climbing out of his box! Many kids from WC or disadvantaged backgrounds are extremely scathing of intelligence and academic achievement. It's a defence mechanism against their own inferiority complexes.

Besides, what kind of teachers are you mixing with if you think they will make rash judgement on him? Most teachers I know (and I know many) love nothing more than to find a real rough diamond, and to mentor them and encourage them, and see them flourish! Far more rewarding, methinks than a constant stream of tutored Stepford Children just going through the motions.

Of course if he behaves like a nightmare, then you can't blame them. they can only have so much patience, no matter how much potential he might show.

Sorry, I meant to put 'bad' schools in inverted commas, not italics! Changes the context slightly!