Chav

Opinion is divided on the origin of the term. "Chav" may have its origins in the Romani word "chavi" ("child") or "chaval" ("boy"), which later came to mean "man".{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4074760.stm |title=UK | 'Asbo' and 'chav' make dictionary |publisher=BBC News |date=8 June 2005 |access-date=2011-08-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051110104408/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4074760.stm |archive-date=10 November 2005 |url-status=live }} The word "chavvy" has existed since at least the 19th century; lexicographer Eric Partridge mentions it in his 1950 dictionary of slang and unconventional English, giving its date of origin as c. 1860.{{cite book|title=Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English|publisher=The MacMillan Company|edition=Third|location=New York|date=1950|page=143}}

The word in its current pejorative usage is recorded by the Oxford English Dictionary as first used in a Usenet forum in 1998 and first used in a newspaper in 2002.{{oed|chav, n.}}{{cite news|title=Why is 'chav' still controversial?|work=Magazine|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-13626046|publisher=BBC|access-date=14 April 2012|date=3 June 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120425064725/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-13626046|archive-date=25 April 2012|url-status=live}} By 2005, the term had become widely used to refer to a type of anti-social, uncultured youth, portrayed as wearing excessive flashy jewellery, white athletic shoes, baseball caps, and sham designer clothes. Similarly, girls are portrayed as commonly wearing clothes which expose their midriffs.

In his 2011 book, Chavs: The Demonization of the Working Class, Owen Jones argued that the word is an attack on the poor. In the 2010 book Stab Proof Scarecrows by Lance Manley, it was surmised that "chav" was an abbreviation for "council housed and violent".{{cite book|last=Manley|first=Lance|title=Stab Proof Scarecrows: A Memoir Looking at Policing in the UK from a Trainee's Perspective|year=2010|publisher=Matador, Troubador Publishing Ltd|location=Leicester, England|isbn=978-1-84876-297-8|page=369}} Others regard this as a backronym. This interpretation of the word was used in a 2012 public statement by rapper Plan B as he spoke out to oppose the use of the term.{{cite web |last=Holden |first=Steve |title=Plan B criticises word chav ahead of Ill Manors release |date=13 March 2012 |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/17352999 |work=Newsbeat |publisher=BBC News|access-date=16 April 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120315213530/http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/17352999 |archive-date=15 March 2012 |url-status=live }}

In 2013, linguist David Crystal said on BBC Learning English:

People talk about "chav behaviour" or "chav insults" and that sort of thing. Oh, don't believe the popular etymologies that you read sometimes in the press and on websites. I saw one the other day, people said, "It's an acronym, 'chav', from 'council house and violent'"—well, no, it isn't, that was made up in recent times.{{cite web|last=Crystal|first=David|author-link=David Crystal|title=Chav|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/radio/specials/1130_uptodate2/page7.shtml|work=Keep Your English Up To date|publisher=BBC World Service|access-date=1 October 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150228082430/http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/radio/specials/1130_uptodate2/page7.shtml|archive-date=28 February 2015|url-status=live}}

It has also been suggested that the term is derived from the name of the town of Chatham, in Kent, but the Oxford English Dictionary thinks this is "probably a later rationalization".

{{Multiple image

| image1 = Chav.jpg

| image2 = TheGreatBritishMale-theChav.jpg

| footer = Caricatures of the chav stereotype

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Besides referring to loutish (ill-mannered) behaviour, violence, and particular speech patterns (all of which are stereotypes), the chav stereotype includes wearing branded designer sportswear,{{cite book|last1=Atkinson|first1=Michael|last2=Young|first2=Kevin|title=Tribal play: subcultural journeys through sport|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ush9CBSByIcC&pg=PA265|access-date=12 August 2011|date=18 June 2008|publisher=Emerald Group Publishing|isbn=978-0-7623-1293-1|page=265|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130615070802/http://books.google.com/books?id=ush9CBSByIcC&pg=PA265|archive-date=15 June 2013|url-status=live}} which may be accompanied by some form of flashy gold jewellery otherwise termed as "bling". They have been described as adopting "black culture".{{cite book|author=Nisha Kapoor|title=The State of Race|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=858UfY4RJmIC&pg=PA50|date=28 June 2013|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|isbn=978-1-137-31308-9|pages=50–}}

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",{{cite news|title=No but yeah but no|url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2005/may/12/pressandpublishing.penal|work=The Guardian|access-date=13 April 2012|date=12 May 2005|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140219025526/http://www.theguardian.com/media/2005/may/12/pressandpublishing.penal|archive-date=19 February 2014|url-status=live}} both referring to a BBC comedy character {{xref|(see {{slink||In the media}} below)}}. A 2006 survey by YouGov suggested 70% of TV industry professionals believed that Vicky Pollard was an accurate reflection of white working-class youth.

Response to the stereotype has ranged from amusement to criticism, with some saying that it is a new manifestation of classism. The Guardian in 2011 identified issues stemming from the use of the terms "hoodies" and "chav" within the mass media, which had led to age discrimination as a result of mass media-created stereotypes.{{cite news|last=Heath|first=Olivia|title=Neets, asbos and chavs: labels of age discrimination|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2011/jun/19/neets-asbos-chavs-young-people|work=The Guardian|access-date=13 April 2012|date=19 June 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131104164420/http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2011/jun/19/neets-asbos-chavs-young-people|archive-date=4 November 2013|url-status=live}}

In 2005 the fashion house Burberry, whilst deriding chavs, claimed that the widespread fashion in the UK of chavs wearing its branded style (Burberry check) was due to the widespread availability of cheaper counterfeit versions.{{citation needed|date=February 2020}}

The large supermarket chain Asda has attempted to trademark the word "chav" for a line of confectionery. A spokeswoman said, "With slogans from characters in shows such as Little Britain and The Catherine Tate Show providing us with more and more contemporary slang, our 'Whatever' sweets — now nicknamed chav hearts — have become very popular with kids and grown-ups alike. We thought we needed to give them some respect and have decided to trademark our sweets."

A BBC TV documentary suggested that chav culture is an evolution of previous working-class youth subcultures associated with particular commercial clothing styles, such as mods, skinheads, and casuals.

In a February 2005 article in The Times, Julie Burchill argued that use of the word is a form of "social racism", and that such "sneering" reveals more about the shortcomings of the "chav-haters" than those of their supposed victims. The writer John Harris argued along similar lines in a 2007 article in The Guardian. The widespread use of the "chav" stereotype has been criticised. Some argue that it amounts to simple snobbery and elitism. Critics of the term have argued that its users are "neo-snobs", and that its increasing popularity raises questions about how British society deals with social mobility and class.{{cite news|title=Stop use of 'Chav' – think tank|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7509968.stm|publisher=BBC News|access-date=13 April 2012|date=16 July 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090130042832/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7509968.stm|archive-date=30 January 2009|url-status=live}}

The Fabian Society considers the term to be offensive and regards it as "sneering and patronising" to a largely voiceless group. On describing those who use the word, the society stated that "we all know their old serviette/napkin, lounge/living room, settee/sofa tricks. But this is something new. This is middle class hatred of the white working class, pure and simple. The Fabian Society have been highly critical of the BBC in using the term in broadcasts.{{cite web|title=Stop using chav: it's deeply offensive |url=http://www.fabians.org.uk/publications/extracts/chav-offensive |publisher= Fabian Society |access-date=30 May 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120112002750/http://www.fabians.org.uk/publications/extracts/chav-offensive |archive-date=12 January 2012 }} Use of the term 'chav' was reported in The Guardian in 2011 as "class abuse by people asserting superiority".{{cite news|last=Toynbee|first=Polly|author-link=Polly Toynbee|title=Chav: the vile word at the heart of fractured Britain|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2011/may/31/chav-vile-word-fractured-britain|work=The Guardian|access-date=14 April 2012|date=31 May 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140524071109/http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2011/may/31/chav-vile-word-fractured-britain|archive-date=24 May 2014|url-status=live}} Writer Owen Jones also criticised the use of the term in his book Chavs: The Demonization of the Working Class.

By 2004, the word was used in national newspapers and common parlance in the UK. Susie Dent's Larpers and Shroomers: The Language Report, published by the Oxford University Press, designated it as the "word of the year" in 2004.

Characters described as "chavs" have been featured in numerous British television programmes, as well as films. The character, clothing, attitude and musical interests of Lauren Cooper and her friends in the BBC comedy series, The Catherine Tate Show, have been associated with the chav stereotype. The character Ali G, created by Sacha Baron Cohen originally for The 11 O'Clock Show and eventually gaining more popularity due to the Da Ali G Show, is described as using "the chav's putative anti-intellectuality to critique radical political stances".{{Cite book |last=Peterson |first=James Braxton |title=In Media Res: Race, Identity, and Pop Culture in the Twenty-First Century |date=2014 |publisher=Bucknell University Press |isbn=978-1611486490 |location=London |pages=161}} The BBC comedy series Little Britain features the character Vicky Pollard (portrayed by Matt Lucas), a parody of a teenage female chav. In the British television series Misfits, the character of Kelly Bailey is presented as a stereotypical chav.{{cite web|url=http://www.e4.com/misfits/characters/kelly.html|title=Misfits – Kelly|publisher=E4.com|access-date=24 November 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111113093701/http://www.e4.com/misfits/characters/kelly.html|archive-date=13 November 2011|url-status=dead}} Lauren Socha, the actress who portrays Kelly, has described the character as being "a bit chavvy".{{cite news|title=Lauren likes her Misfits character|url=https://metro.co.uk/2009/11/11/lauren-likes-her-misfits-character-595435/|access-date=8 May 2009|newspaper=Metro|date=11 November 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140523225457/http://metro.co.uk/2009/11/11/lauren-likes-her-misfits-character-595435/|archive-date=23 May 2014|url-status=live}} The Times has referred to the character as "[a] chavvish girl",{{cite news|url=http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/tv_and_radio/article6914519.ece|title=Misfits review by The Times|work=The Times|access-date=23 November 2011|first=Sadie|last=Gray|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200501163446/https://www.the-tls.co.uk/|archive-date=1 May 2020|url-status=dead}} and the character has been said to possess a "chav accent".{{cite news|last=Laws |first=Roz |title=Misfits star Lauren Socha reveals why she's changing her accent |url=http://www.sundaymercury.net/entertainment-news/tv-news/2010/11/21/misfits-star-lauren-socha-reveals-why-she-s-changing-her-accent-66331-27682332/ |access-date=23 November 2011 |newspaper=Sunday Mercury |date=21 November 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111117001304/http://www.sundaymercury.net/entertainment-news/tv-news/2010/11/21/misfits-star-lauren-socha-reveals-why-she-s-changing-her-accent-66331-27682332/ |archive-date=17 November 2011 }}

In the "New Earth" episode of the BBC TV series Doctor Who, the character Lady Cassandra is transplanted into Rose Tyler's body (Billie Piper). When Cassandra sees herself in a mirror, she exclaims "Oh my God... I'm a chav!" In Kingsman: The Secret Service, the main character Eggsy Unwin (Taron Egerton) is introduced as a stereotypical chav.{{cite magazine |url=https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2015/02/kingsman-the-secret-service-review |title=Kingsman: The Secret Service Is Crazy Violent, and Endlessly Entertaining |author=Lawson, Richard |magazine=Vanity Fair |date=12 February 2015 |access-date=4 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171130042556/https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2015/02/kingsman-the-secret-service-review |archive-date=30 November 2017 |url-status=live }}

{{div col|colwidth=20em}}

• Stereotypes like Rednecks in the US, Bogans in Australia, Neds in Scotland, Hosers and Skeet in Canada and Newfoundland
• Ah Beng in Malaysia and Singapore, Alay in Indonesia, and Jejemon in the Philippines
• British subcultures like Lad culture, Hooliganism, Bootboy, and Football casuals, the 1980s precursor to the chav subculture
• Eshays in Australia
• Gopniks in the former Soviet Union, Dizelaši in Serbia and Dresiarz in Poland
• Harry in Norway
• Ratchet (slang)
• Social structure
• Social structure of the United Kingdom
• Subculture
• Tokkie in the Netherlands, and Zef in South Africa
• Underclass
• Westie, similar stereotype in Australia and New Zealand
• Wigger
• Yankī
• Yob

{{div col end}}

{{Reflist|refs=

{{Cite journal

|last1=Hayward

|first1=Keith

|last2=Yar|first2=Majid

|title=The 'chav' phenomenon: Consumption, media and the construction of a new underclass

|journal=Crime, Media, Culture

|volume=2

|issue=1

|pages=9–28

|year=2006

|doi=10.1177/1741659006061708|s2cid=145421834

|issn=1741-6590 }}

{{cite web

|url=http://metro.co.uk/2009/01/26/chav-free-holidays-cause-outrage-386663/

|title='Chav-free holidays' cause outrage

|work=Metro

|date=26 January 2009

|access-date=2009-11-15

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190508233354/https://metro.co.uk/2009/01/26/chav-free-holidays-cause-outrage-386663/

|archive-date=8 May 2019

|url-status=live

}}

{{cite episode

|series=British Style Genius

|title=Loud and Proud – The Street Look

|network=BBC

|airdate=2008-11-04

|season=1

|number=5

|minutes=59 }}

{{cite episode

|title=New Earth

|series=Doctor Who

|network=BBC

|airdate=15 April 2006

|season=2

|number=168 }}

{{Cite news

|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/sneer-nation-574618.html

|work=The Independent

|date=28 January 2004

|title=Sneer nation

|first=Oliver

|last=Bennett

|location=London}}{{dead link|date=August 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}

{{Cite news

|first=John

|last=Harris

|author-link=John Harris (critic)

|url=https://www.theguardian.com/comment/story/0,,2027396,00.html

|title=So now we've finally got our very own 'white trash'

|date=6 March 2007

|work=The Guardian

|location=London}}

{{Cite news

|first=Julie

|last=Burchill

|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,7-1488120,00.html

|title=Yeah but, no but, why I'm proud to be a chav

|date=18 February 2005

|work=The Times

|location=London

|access-date=2 November 2005

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081015162621/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,7-1488120,00.html

|archive-date=15 October 2008

|url-status=dead

}}

{{Cite news

|url=http://news.aol.co.uk/article.adp?id=20060821161009990001

|title= Asda tries to trade mark "chav"

|publisher=AOL NEWS

|url-status=dead

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071011215623/http://news.aol.co.uk/chavda-bids-to-register-yoof-slang/article/20060821161009990001

|archive-date=11 October 2007}}

{{Cite news

|first=John

|last=Harris

|author-link=John Harris (critic)

|title=Bottom of the Class

|url=https://www.theguardian.com/britain/article/0,,1751272,00.html

|work=The Guardian

|date=11 April 2006

|access-date=2007-02-24

|location=London}}

{{Cite news

|url=http://tls.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,25348-1888521,00.html

|title=Colourful whitewash

|last=Noel-Tod

|first=Jeremy

|date=3 April 2005

|access-date=2007-05-30

|work=The Times Literary Supplement

|location=London

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060929210119/http://tls.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,25348-1888521,00.html

|archive-date=29 September 2006

|url-status=dead

}}

{{Cite book

|last=Dent

|first=Susie

|author-link=Susie Dent

|title=Larpers and shroomers: the language report

|year=2004

|publisher=Oxford University Press

|isbn=978-0-19-861012-0

|url-access=registration

|url=https://archive.org/details/larpersshroomers00dentrich

}}

{{cite web

|url=http://www.worldwidewords.org/topicalwords/tw-cha2.htm

|title=Chav

|last=Quinion

|first=Michael

|work=World Wide Words

|access-date=2009-02-23

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060415024903/http://www.worldwidewords.org/topicalwords/tw-cha2.htm

|archive-date=15 April 2006

|url-status=live

}}

{{Cite news

|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/jul/15/equality.language

|work=The Guardian

|date=15 July 2008

|title=Ban the word 'chav'

|first1=Tom

|last1=Hampson

|first2=Jemima

|last2=Olchawski

|location=London

|access-date=11 December 2016

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150916153737/http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/jul/15/equality.language

|archive-date=16 September 2015

|url-status=live

}}

}}

{{Wiktionary}}

{{Commons category|Chavs}}

• Professor David Crystal, [http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/uptodate/mp3/uptodate2_chav.mp3 "Chav"] (MP3). Learning English, BBC World Service.

• Plan B. "[http://tedxtalks.ted.com/video/TEDxObserver-Plan-B-Youth-music Youth, Music and London]" at TEDxObserver.

Category:2000s slang

Category:2010s fashion

Category:2010s slang

Category:Anti-social behaviour

Category:British slang

Category:Class-related slurs

Category:Fashion aesthetics

Category:Social class in the United Kingdom

Category:Social class subcultures

Category:Socioeconomic stereotypes

Category:Stereotypes of the working class

Category:Youth culture in the United Kingdom