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you will obviously read what you want to read by my posts and jump to the conclusions that you WANT to have
try going through my childhood
The uncomfortable truth about many chavs is that they are vermin. They're not vermin because they're poor, or because they're working class, or because they wear a bit too much sportswear. They're vermin because they are determined to drag everyone else into the gutter with them.
This
http://www.bizpacreview.com/2013/02/15/no-whites-allowed-tutoring-policy-rocks-colo-school-50701
There are people like this, but they are by no means all people who fit the chav stereotype, nor do the majority of people who fit the chav stereotype match the description you give. It's just a lazy way of judging people and putting them into boxes. Most of the "chavs" I know are actually skilled workers. How else would they be able to afford expensively modified cars?
I've watched with quite a lot of interest the evolution of the chav stereotype. It was first starting when I was in university and everywhere seemed to have their own word for it. But it was purely a stereotype based on tastes in music, dress sense and choice of leisure activities. And yes, it was mainly a case of "let's laugh at this group behind their backs" but it really wasn't anything beyond that. But as soon as the newspapers got their hands on it, all of these undesirable elements were added to the stereotypes based purely on class prejudice. So now the chav stereotype is on benefits, lives on a council estate, smokes, drinks a particular brand of beer, is frequently violent, buys aggressive dogs and then abandons them, have untold numbers of unplanned kids and then split up, etc. Now all of these social problems are going to be more common in poorer communities, and so there will obviously be some crossover between people who fit the chav stereotype and people that behave in some of these ways, or have these problems. But I guess it's just easier for people to be able to point to a visual "problem group" that they can blame all of societies problems on. I know plenty of people who I would label a chav (actually, I refuse to use the word now, but I would've called them a townie back in about 2005) and I can only think of one that has spent any period of time on the dole (and he has severe family problems). As I said, most of them are actually skilled workers on decent salaries. They just also happen to like house music, modified cars and Sports Direct.
Funny, IME the people who do the most to drag everyone else down usually wear suits and have a good education including degrees (often in law!)... I'm sure that describing them as "Tories" won't mean I'm being prejudiced
With regards your comment though, the vermin you describe come in many guises, wear may different styles, speak with differing accents, drink all sorts of drinks, some smoke, some take drugs etc. Chav, on the other hand, is a very specific image and *that* is the issue. It's why some people are now scared of any teenager, anyone wearing a hoodie etc.
The problem is separating my experience from every single working class person. A hell of a lot of them work hard. A hell of a lot of them study, go to uni and get good jobs. Some of them don't make it through no lck of trying, and we call them chavs. An underclass.
And we feel happy doing this because they don't dress the same or speak the same or behave the same as we do. We can ascribe to them all the negative connotations from what we personally experienced of people we put in the same bucket.
That's what makes it de facto prejudicial language, and therefore lazy language. That doesn't mean you can't say it, and maybe it is more defensible than other prejudicial language. But the amount of 'chavs' I've met who were dead nice, ordinary people makes me reticent to throw around slurs.
I know plenty of really decent tory voters. It's the tory government that is fucked because it represents the private interests of a minority. Then again, so does labour.
It's pointless because we have the perfectly appropriate descriptive of 'mobile phone'. It is a mobile device so there is no need to use an Americanism.
I'd never trust anyone in a suit. So I never wear them
In most towns you'll see the same sort of person hanging around on street corners; they're bright orange, in velour sportswear, swearing. The girls will have a baby in tow, usually with a Greggs sausage roll, the men will be swigging from a tin of something. There are regional variations but we're mostly talking about the same type of person.
As for why people are frightened of anyone dressed like that, partially I think it is experience. I've been called a cunt by these people for asking them to stop smoking on the bus, or to stop swearing when I'm with sodbaby. When you get that sort of reaction it is no wonder that people don't want to be involved with them.
But the clothes we wear show others what social groups we belong to, or what social groups we aspire to belong to. Clothes are tribal, no matter what style you choose to go for. People who choose to dress in fake tan and tracksuits are telling us what group of people they wish to be associated with, just as people who dress head to toe in Jack Wills are telling us what group they want to be associated with. You are aware of the stereotypes before you get dressed in a morning.