The Great Big Chav Megathread... ALL discussion of Chavs here.

[JoeP]

Rich - just turn the other cheek.

 

DaBouncer - funny, I don't intend banning Rich......

 

Please, the pair of you, just let it go now.

[spyro2000]

He isn't, but he IS a Mod.

 

And no, I'm not one either so shut it before you even start, I know you were trying to start in the Pub last Sunday night

 

 

 

You dont like me do you?

 

I will leave this thread to you Rich.

[AtticusFinch]

"Chav" has gone from being a potent insult to near meaningless because of lazy and snobbish usage. The original meaning of "chav" was to mock those who indulged in petty crime and violence, but frequently became used against anyone who wore a tracksuit or baseball cap. People shouldn't be judged on how they dress but on how they act, and wild generalisations are frequently made that link clothing to criminality. The "chav" look is largely about fashion, it's just a different kind of fashion. It's no different to die-hard fashionistas who'll change their wardrobe and hairstyle every six months.

 

I suspect that the mocking of chavs stems from something deeper though. Although I don't play fashion myself, I understand the huge role that the media plays in driving fashion. They're used to telling people what to wear and seeing those people wear it. If they say something is in, it's in. If they say it's out then it's out. With chav fashion though you have a large group of people who simply aren't playing by mainstream fashion rules. In short, they're not wearing what they're told to. The cynic in me suspects that the demonisation of chavs and the labelling of any working class person in sportswear as a chav is partly due to media spite against non-fashion participants.

[Cuckoo Brain]

There should be a Chav hunting season, is it legal to educate these chavs with wooden bats? oh and Christian hunting season wouldn't go a miss!

[rick49]

lets all get to gether and have a CHAV BASH week!

[sarcastic32]

What happened to me today was funny.. i was walking in town minding my own with my husband. Oh let me state i was wearing a pair of new rocks thats and the usual casual clothes, i wasnt dressed as a goth or anything..

Anyway one minute i was talking to my husband and the next i get this dirty chav in a mucky white tracksuit and cap saying in my ear hole "" get a hair cut!"

OMG!! I tured round and just shouted back quick.." dirty chav!!"

I wouldnt mind but im female i have shoulder length hair!! They said that because they assumed i was a dirty goth growing my hair!! God i really hate them i really do!!

[purdyamos]

How come the infertility epidemic has completely bypassed the very sector of society that could have done with a bit of reproductive rationing. It aint fair.

[biggan]

What happened to me today was funny.. i was walking in town minding my own with my husband. Oh let me state i was wearing a pair of new rocks thats and the usual casual clothes, i wasnt dressed as a goth or anything..

Anyway one minute i was talking to my husband and the next i get this dirty chav in a mucky white tracksuit and cap saying in my ear hole "" get a hair cut!"

OMG!! I tured round and just shouted back quick.." dirty chav!!"

I wouldnt mind but im female i have shoulder length hair!! They said that because they assumed i was a dirty goth growing my hair!! God i really hate them i really do!!

 

LMAO! lol!!!

[Nicholarse]

"Chav" is a word designed to de-humanise the poorest people in our society. Those who have been born at the very bottom of our rigid class system. By placing the emphasis on their 'style' it's possible to even attack people who climb financially up the tree. Those disgusting lower class scum who manage to do well for themselves like Jordan and Wayne Rooney's girlfriend can be castigated for getting above their station. The best example of this is that bloke who won the lottery.

 

When the word was first introduced into your vocabulary by the mass media there was concern amongst the elite chattering classes that it was racist or at least had racist connotations.

 

The following quotes from this string suggest these worries were not entirely unfounded:

 

"they seem to be breeding at an alarming rate [...] about time we had cull on all these ratboys [...] taking over the city and no-one seems to be doing anything about it"

 

"there are more of them than of us and this can only mean that this country is on the way down"

 

"caused by a VERY shallow gene pool here in S5 [...] my three lads aged 16, 14 and 12 laugh their heads off whenever they see them"*

 

"They all got the same face as well. Imagine having to describe one of them to the police"

 

"parts of Chesterfield are crawling with them [...] these people are quite well up on the law,due to their many visits to the local police stations,"

 

"there should be anti-chav laws, any chav spotted in the city should be given a 20 pound fine"

 

"without wishing to sound too radical couldn't we just shoot them? [...] All of them? The World would be a better place"

 

"McDONALDS is like a MASONIC LODGE for chavs [...] They hatch all the plans there"

 

"there was one in the hospital today [...] he came in about 1hr after me ( i had a hurting knee which turned out to be torn liagments) and they let him have an x-ray before me [...] disgracefull!!"

 

"Forget the British Chavs! you should see the Indian version . . Far more hilarious. If you've ever seen the hero in a Bollywood film - Thats him! I saw one the other day and decided to call him Chavinder"

 

"when it comes to Chavs, it takes all my effort not to say something to em when they've done nowt LOL"

 

"I think curfews are a good idea"

 

"they are a very successful race"

 

[...we need...] "a controlled humane cull"

 

"These people are taking over the country,and at this rate,in 50 years time there is every chance they could be in government"

 

"[...in relation to Darwinism and social engineering...] I'm not sure how this is relevant to the chav question"

 

"Couldn't someone just bomb the urban music festival taking place at the end of July at Don Valley to provide a short term eradication of this menace"

 

Then there's the list of *funny* *weird* names they have and an interesting bit of confusion as to where the word comes from.

 

Further hateful nonsense continues until we have:

 

"There should be a Chav hunting season, is it legal to educate these chavs with wooden bats? [...] lets all get to gether and have a CHAV BASH week!"

 

--

 

Replace the word "Chav" with "Jew" or "Black" and you'll see what I'm getting at.

 

It never ceases to amaze me how easy people are to manipulate. You are being f'd with on a grand scale here and most of you can't see it. You're subscribing to a philosophy and word which is designed to keep us all down. This word is part of an agenda designed to provoke all of the above responses. It comes from the people who want you to support the oppression of the few by the many. It has been created and popularised by people who want you to have a word which de-humanises and attacks people by appealing to your basest instincts.

 

Grow up, stop using the word. Replace it with - commoner if you insist on being a snob. Be honest with yourself and others.

 

NM

 

*Oh the irony! It wasn't unusual for parents in Nazi Germany to encourage their children to laugh at the Jews as they walked past.

[Fingers]

"Chav" is a word designed to de-humanise the poorest people in our society. Those who have been born at the very bottom of our rigid class system.

 

Even if you accept that British society is still a "rigid class system" (and I don't: there are still social divisions but class plays a smaller role than it once did and is less important than income or the willingness to do anything anyone important asks you to do no matter how wrong or demeaning it may be) are chavs really "the poorest people in our society"? I'm sure that there are people who are poorer than chavs such as the homeless, some pensioners and working class people who aren't chavs.

 

By placing the emphasis on their 'style' it's possible to even attack people who climb financially up the tree.

 

People who read Heat magazine may place an emphasis on the style of chavs but not everyone does. Personally I think behaviour and attitudes are a far better indicator of chaviness than clothes and other possessions. For example, sometimes when I've been going around minding my own business complete strangers have asked me for money for their bus/coach/train fare/phone/cup of tea (delete according to sob story) or made comments about my appearance. I think that type of behaviour is very chavvy and most of the people who have done those things to me have been chavs.

 

Those disgusting lower class scum who manage to do well for themselves like Jordan and Wayne Rooney's girlfriend can be castigated for getting above their station. The best example of this is that bloke who won the lottery.

 

"That bloke who won the lottery" (his name is Michael Carroll, as I expect you were aware) is a very good example of the chavvish attitude towards money and there are others such as other lottery winners (such as a young woman who squandered a six-figure sum very quickly or a millionaire who used their winnings to set up himself up as a drug dealer), many footballers and many stars of the music scene. The best current example is Mike Skinner of The Streets who had a Number One single and album a few years ago but talks on his latest Number One album about how he has spent vast sums on booze, drugs and bling. Whether they're rich or poor what chavs of all incomes have in common is that they are greedy, impatient and want to look flash. Furthermore, trying to portray them as downtrodden victims of a capitalist system doesn't really work because the conspicious consumption of chavs helps to keep the capitalist system growing, as does the petty criminality which some chavs treat as a career.

 

When the word was first introduced into your vocabulary by the mass media there was concern amongst the elite chattering classes that it was racist or at least had racist connotations.

 

The following quotes from this string suggest these worries were not entirely unfounded:

 

Replace the word "Chav" with "Jew" or "Black" and you'll see what I'm getting at.

 

I admit that there are some people who engage in anti-chav rhetoric that is disturbing and seems to be inspired by events that should only be viewed as crimes. However, there are also some people who say similar things about Muslims, black people, Asian people or Jews. As you pointed out this tactic of demonising groups of people isn't new and as you could have pointed out this tactic is particularly popular with the far right. However, there are crucial differences between chavs and the minorities I have mentioned.

 

For example, black or Asian people can't wake up in the morning and decide that they aren't going to be black or Asian any more but a chav can wake up in the morning and decide that they aren't going to be a chav any more. Also, Muslims and Jews have beliefs and texts that have been passed down over centuries but chavvism is a latest version of a fad that has been around in various forms for a few decades. Comparing chavs with members of other so-called youth "tribes" such as the mods or the hippies of the 1960's, the punks of the 1970's or the ravers of the 1980's seems fair but inadequate. Unless you can point to an anti-chav manifesto along the lines of Mein Kampf, legislation that discriminates against people merely because they can be identified as chavs or concentration camps being built I think comparing the position of chavs in 21st Century Britain with that of Jews in 1930's Germany is alarmist.

 

Still, I'm sure the chavs of Britain will be pleased to know that you are on their side. Why don't you advertise this on a T-shirt? It might not stop you getting happy slapped but at least it will make you feel better about yourself.