Blog

Question by ~______~: Why do English people complain about chavs so much?
I’m just curious. What exactly are chavs? Are they like gang-bangers or what? lol

Best answer:

Answer by Winston Chau
Chav, ( /ˈtʃæv/ chav, also chaver) is a stereotype and pejorative epithet commonly used, chiefly in the United Kingdom. The stereotype was popularized in the British mass media to refer to working class youth subculture in England

The term has its origins in the Romani word chavi, meaning “child” (or “chavo”, meaning “boy”, or “chavvy”, meaning “youth”). The derivative chavette has been used to refer to females The adjectives “chavish” and “chavtastic” have been used in relation to items designed for or suitable for use by chavs.

The word in its current pejorative usage is recorded by the Oxford English Dictionary as first published in a Usenet forum in 1998 and first use in a newspaper in 2002

The stereotype of a Chav includes wearing branded designer sportswear. Stereotypical attire might be accompanied by some form of gold jewellery otherwise termed ‘bling’.

In a case where a teenage woman was barred from her own home under the terms of an Anti-Social Behaviour Order in 2005, some British national newspapers branded her “the real-life Vicky Pollard” with the Daily Star running headlines reading “Good riddance to chav scum: real life Vicky Pollard evicted”. A 2006 survey by YouGov suggested 70% of TV industry professionals believed that Vicky Pollard was an accurate reflection of white working class youth. Also in 2006 Prince William of Wales, future king of England and his younger brother Prince Harry had dressed up as Chavs resulting in headlines in The Sun naming him ‘Future Bling of England’. The article stated “William has a great sense of humour and went to a lot of trouble thinking up what to wear.”

One former police officer who worked at the City of London Police as a special constable in 2004 and later another force as a paid full-time officer in the United Kingdom published a book in 2010 entitled ‘Stab Proof Scarecrows’ that stated Chav was an abbreviation for ‘Council Housed and Violent’, however this is a backronym.

The Guardian in 2011 identified issues stemming from the use of the terms “hoodies” and “chav” within the mass media which had to led age discrimination as a result of mass media created stereotypes.[2]

What do you think? Answer below!