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.

5DollarShake - No, you just have to agree with me.

ImSoNotTelling - I think that the definition in the OP is the best one going. The fact that some people apply it to themselves is a reclamation like 'Queer'.

Behaviour yes, tastes no.

I dislike Burberry, sports casual, body kits on cheap cars. Should it be ok to look down on decent people who do like those things?

Chav = council house and violent...but in my neck of the woods it also refers to people who have a lot more disposable income than me.

I actually love the way our language evolves and becomes enriched by each successive generation. But then I think text speak is a triumph of creavity over pedantic twunts!

I think it is only appropriate to sign off 'go figure'!

My mother thought baked beans were common- I never had them till I was 18 and at uni.
MIL would consider children playing in the street when they have perfectly acceptable gardens "common".

TheCoalitionNeedsYou Well that well and truely put me back in my box didn't it

I didn't say anything about looking down on people. I said I didn't like their taste.

There really is a difference.

Our neighbour used to call us "dirty little guttersnipes" when we built dams in the gutter after a storm.

Her daughter was also with us.

No need for the . I was talking broadly.

I was actually trying to agree with you but I guess that didn't come across. So have one back.

Agree with Chav but can i keep common?
I reserve it for use with my cats bum face.
Ta very much.

Can we also do away with Yummy Mummy? Makes my teeth itch, esp when people usee it to refer to themselves!

Oh hell yes, yummy mummy is awful.

And so is PFB.
And princess, hun and babe (judgy face). Sorry, I personally hate them.

I agree with Orm's op. It's a (currently) legitimate way for people to express social prejudice.

It's lazy and offensive.

SixtyFootDoll - my friend refers to herself as Yummy Mummy. I hav to take deep breaths and count to ten to stop myself sniggering. (She's very attractive, but honestly).

"goth/punk/emo/metaller are all choices though. I chose to be a metaller when I was younger (still am at heart, if not in dress). To be called such is not an insult.

To be called a chav is totally different. It's about putting someone in their place. Beneath you."

Not really. The original usage of chav was to do with what they wore (their choice) and is the same as the chavs calling all the alternatives "grungers".

It was never meant nicely, unsuprisingly, but then neither was "grunger". But it's still about what they choose to wear, they can choose not to dress like chavs, but they dont, therefore they are chavs.

Don't see the problem.

If it was only about what people choose to wear I would have no problem ..but its not is it ..you only have to look at comments on this thread to know that

But it has evolved to mean something else no?

Maybe, but in my mind it's the same, so will continue to use it as it is fact not opinion.

Kaloki - the original (recent) use of chav was a derogotory term for poor people on council estate. This started around 2000/2001. It was used in the same way as 'pikey'. It's use to describe a from of dress is more recent.

So how come so many people I knew back in 1997 were using the term chav/townie?

I reserve the right to be amused by the term 'CHAVSDA'

It is funny because there is an element of something that many of us recognise in it.

It is disingenuous to pretend that this is not so.

That said, I take the point that these terms can be used with lazy and unpleasantly dismissive intent. This is unseemly, but removing the words does not remove the intent.

...those who wish to will find other ways to express the sentiment.

Thats because you shop at Waitrose I assume retiredgoth .....

"...those who wish to will find other ways to express the sentiment. "

I know they will. But why do they want to? I am constantly bemused by the way people feel the need to belittle others about petty issues of dress and taste.

I think I find it most amusing because my antecedents are undoubtedly very posh - I had the kind of background that made other people's mothers put on their telephone voice to speak to my mum And I shop at Asda, I have an overlarge trampoline, I live in a somewhat ill-reputed town . It just makes me think how very small-minded people are that they need to judge on such trivial things.

By recent i mean 'went national' as that's when I heard it. Where I was growing up the the clothing style would have been called 'casual'. 'Townie' I also came across years back - that was pretty derogatory.

It was meant to be coalition, it was a response to the attacks that the chavs made on goths etc on an alarmingly regular basis.