What exactly does "chavvy" mean?

[DSMEZ]

Anyone want to enlighten me? Also is it considered un-pc to say it?

yes it is, its similar to your 'trailer park' But I did say it , it my shame

But it seems I hear it a lot. Is it derogatory then?

Not sure if its derogatory,but people don't like being called a chav.

if someone were described as chavvy then one would expect them to follow a certain fashion trend. There are certain labels which are stereotypically chavvy ie. Burberry (but not on old folk), an abundance of cheap gold jewellery is also prevalent about their person particularly in the form of hoop earrings, the larger the better. As is, again stereotypically, a croydon facelift

www.chavscum.com

i reckon it's replaced the word 'Tacky'. I also reckon it's getting a bit old. We need a new word.

Chavvy is a kentish term. It is a cross between a female living in CHAtham, Kent and a female living in FaVersham, Kent. Hence a mix of the two towns ~CHAV. Big hoop earrings, tracksuit bottoms etc. It is a derogatory term usually put in the context of "you chavvy BasXXXX". It is Kent's answer to Trailer Trash. and coming from Kent I am a bit of an authority on it! lol!

The origins of the word chav can be found

here

and

here

It's got nothing do with Chatham or Faversham (I used to live in Kent too and only heard the word chav used as described above)

my friend was unreliably informed that it stands for Council Estate And Violence by her pschology(sp) teacher

At ds's school thje majority of parents are chav's imo. They have blim burned clothes, tits hanging out, swearing, fag out of mouth, those daft hats etc etc etc. Thankfully we are moving to a different area. The 'chav' children play gangsta(sp?) games and ds doesnt get it at all and has said he doesnt want to be like them.

on mumsnet lots of words have been deemed unpc this week. apart from chav

apart from chav.. surely there are other words that depict groups of people. Used to be townies when I was younger. Then there were mods and rockers. Goths, Grungies, hippies etc etc etc

ok showing my ignorance but now what are
'blim burned clothes'?

Burns in clothes often caused by ash falling off a joint

It's definitely derogatory, and horribly snobbish. It's just a new way of saying that someone is irredeemably working class, and one would be horrified to live next door to them. It's a pretty unpleasant sentiment, whichever way you slice it.

gosh I must be terribly snobby then, how about I call the little gang of them who have seriously been given behaviour orders and of which at least one of them is servicing a short sentence the underprivalaged misguided youth? They are troublesome little shits and yes it is down to the parenting and personally I dont give a flying hoot if I come across as a snob. THe fact they threaten small children, attack women and men.. Yep and then they trail to the school (cos they are expelled from theirs, with their parents of hich I have described, swearing, spiting and smoking) no they are not the working class if you want to define it as a class cos most of them dont work. It is a pretty upleasant reality. There again I guess you are unlucky enough to live in the midst of it. Hankfully we wont be for much longer so perhaps then I can sit on on a pedestal and infer that I know better and that we shuold accept all types of behaviour

years ago, maybe 15 or so, people talked of their chavvies, meaning children. Don't know why it began to have adifferent meaning.

Heard it was Council House and Violent. Not so much working class as people that are scary and rough and behave badly.

I used to think it was prejudiced and unfair. Then I had chav type neighbours - fights in street/swearing every other word/big violent dogs/thumping techno beats making all their neighbours lives a misery. I refer to them as the chavs with impunity

kerala - exactly my point. Think you are right about the origin.. certainly seems to fit.

(sp) arent unlucky enough. My typing is crappola today

Ascot is a magnet for chavs, according to the Times

awen - I'm sorry that my post wound you up, it wasn't intended to.

The behaviour you describe is many things - violent, abusive, vulgar, ignorant... there are plenty of words you could use to accurately sum it up. The problem with 'chav' is that it tends to be applied blindly to large swathes of working-class people. Like any large groups of people, some of them will behave badly, and most won't. Why should they all be tarred with the same brush?

louts was what was used in the past. Anyhow en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chavs for a definition

I think its equivalent to yobs as was the word in my day.