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I find the most honest and genuine people to be people with similar background to me, and similar interests etc. Funny that.
Maybe its a generational thing as you say. Im closer to 40 than i am 30
their portrayal is more a source of pride, got to play up to the reputation...
well I don't wear tracksuits or anything like that these days like I did during my schooldays but sportswear etc was the default style if you weren't part of a subculture or the preppy crowd.
I don't dress alternative and never did, so I can easily fit as 'one of them' as I get their humour & their attitude and share both to some extent, but I very much doubt you'd think I'm a ned if I walked past you on the street tomorrow. knowing all sorts and getting on with all sorts gives me a perspective I think, ultimately what I was meaning is really an indictment of more middle class perspectives and attitudes. and I say that as someone from the lower middle class. its obv a generalisation, but its also a tendency i've noticed for years...
for neds in glasgow, oh yeah. perhaps not in others parts of the UK...
Chav and it's acronym are very well known, and even could reference to a few films that use it too.
Also there's always names for common sterotypes such as: Chav, Emo, Goth, Scene, Hipster, Grom, Indie, Metal head and Skater... are just a few.
All of them are used as a derogatory term, it's just which side you're stood on...
If i see someone rockin' Nikes, with a trackie, then you'd assume they're a chav, the same way if you saw someone in full black, with a band t-shirt, wearing boots and a trench coat to be a goth.
The only reason Chav is considered to be worse, is because it's what everyone associates yobs, drugs, violence, being poor, theft and council houses.
fear of this is what provides much of the motivation behind chav-hate, other than pure snobbery. also more than a little resentment I don't doubt...
I mean that im glaswegian by birth and when i visit family i dont see any pride at the ned thing. It seems to be a more exaggerated version of the chav thing.
Another word I see quite often to describe 'chavs' is 'charver', which is a Romany word for prostitute.
I think there's a difference between the chav label and other labels such as goth or hippie. All you have to do is look at sites such as chavscum and you can see that social standing, class and wealth have far more to do with the label chav than they do with being a goth or hippie. These sites show that the general consensus is that chavs are defined by lack of wealth, education and class.
But chav, chav is a bad thing.
I use the word chav to describe a certain type of person: sportswear clad, swearing, drinking and smoking on the bus, always talking about getting "paid" by the dole office. Basically a smackhead wearing their finest velour tracksuit from Sports Direct. I don't think I'm being a snob when I think people who behave like that are a waste of perfectly good oxygen and that they're basically parasites.
I don't think they're defined by a lack of education, wealth or class. I think they're defined by being disgusting rodents. I come from a very working class background and chav only means the sort who spend their dole money on Stella, to drink on the bus, fags and tracksuits.
I think the only reason people object to the 'chav' label is because it's more widespread. Stereotypes obviously change according to whoever you're listening to but I think the general consensus of what is a chav has the potential to affect so many people that there's a subconscious idea of "I object to that label as I'm afraid it may apply to me" in many (not all) individuals.
Wow, have I just created 'Chavphobia'?
People have different ideas of what a chav is. If I had to describe how I see it (which I don't like doing) I'd have to say that class has little to do with it. Middle-class types that take on a cockney, 'roodboi' or Jafaken accent are prime candidates, Lily Allen being a good example.
To be honest I see the use of the word 'chav' by many these days as an alternative to 'dole bum' which has been used for years without too many lefty do-gooders getting their tits in a twist.
Then you've got people like Plan B. He did not grow up talking like that. He is (in my eyes) chav royalty. However he is a 'successful' singer, actor etc. But still a chav. Ditto Cheryl Cole, as are all current and previous members of the Sugarbabes (maybe not that first one who left).
Do I use it as an insult? Yeah of course I do, just like I use 'idiot', 'pleb' or 'plank'. Do I think I'm "better" than them? Depends on what you mean by 'better' and at what. I'm a damn good wrestling referee, if a chav or anyone else tried it and was rubbish then yes I'm better at it than them.
Do I think I'm a 'better' human than them? No. Some perhaps, some maybe not. I have faults, I'm Welsh, bald (shaved head of course) and I'm a crap dancer. People may (and probably do) take the piss all the time. Do I like it? No. Do I get hurt sometimes? Of course.
But bitching, whining and screaming "Don't label me!!" does nothing in the grand scheme of things.
http://www.chavtowns.co.uk/
Having a quick read through and you'll soon see what many people take chav to be.
Sneers at those on benifits, those in council houses, single mothers etc etc
It's snobbery.
Hmm, it sneers at the mouth-breathing tracksuit-wearing fuckwits you see in every town. The sort who call dole day "payday" and are constantly screaming at their toddlers "shut the fuck up Rhianna". And I don't see anything wrong with sneering at those people, given that they are basically parasites incapable of doing an honest day's work.
The point I'm making is the usage of the term chav is broad and used by different people to mean different things, and when it boils down to it, it has the same problems as the word nigger except with class connotations instead of racial ones. You can make the same defences "my friends use it, it's an endearing word" but it boils down to how it's used perjoratively.
Not everyone who uses the word nigger is racist, same as not everyone who says chav is going on about people being an underclass. But using the word, as Skive rightly pointed out, is still lazy at best and prejudiced at worst.
I'm firmly on the side of chavhate, there is a need for it and the association.
I've never been started on by emo, goth, scene, hipster, alternative person, normal people, middle aged people, just by tracksuit wearing chavs.
It rediculous, they swan round in huge groups just looking for fights...
No snobbery involved, but Chavs aren't nice people, there's no point trying to make them sound not as bad as they are, but they're a result of living in council houses, on money they all get for free, with no aspect of a future, living a decent life, or getting a job, to them it's all about being 'hard', getting some bitch and making dole babies. Runnin' round the estate pushing drugs and beating up faggots.
No other stereo type does that....
The point is not everyone who looks or sounds like an asbo kid is one. Yet they are all labelled chavs. So if you do nothing but dress the wrong way (because that's what people in your circle do) everyone dislikes you.
This actually leads some to reject conformity and not give a fuck and do what they want including becoming an asboteen. So it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy.
It's not difficult to understand why crime is higher among the poorer sections of society, why they have problems with education, drink, drugs and employment, it's because they're poor. Blame the poor for being poor and having no class. Britain has some of the lowest social mobility in the developed world.
No real need for the emotive language. 'Hate' is a bit strong even for TheSite. 'Dislike' perhaps but actual hate? Rare.
What I've never understood is why education is rejected by those areas of society
I was responding to this
together with this
Chav is never used as a term on endearment is it, which kind of answers the question IMHO. It's only ever used in a derogatory way and often used, IME, out of ignorance. Some of the comments here are the sort of thing I'd expect of the right-wing of the Tory party - no accounting of evidence but prejudicial all the same.
And secondly what about those that consider themselves 'chavs'?
I think I was talking about this in the gingerism bit, but the distinction is, if you are calling someone an idiot you are saying they are a stupid individual. If you are calling someone a chav, you are saying they are a member of an underclass. As some have pointed out here, you can even say 'I know some nice chavs', in essence, you can say that person is nice in spite of their belonging to the underclass. There is never an assumption that a chav is by default a decent person.
Although people say they call people chavs because they behave in an antisocial or criminal manner, I would say its usage the majority of the time is based on appearance, language, and perceived social status. If someone is sitting at a bus shelter wearing a tracksuit and having a cigarette, people will judge them as a chav, despite them doing literally nothing but wearing the wrong clothes and being in the wrong place (both, funnily enough, most likely due to financial constraints).