Just learned a perfect British word: "chav"

[Bucky]

Sadly, we have 'em in America, too. Defs courtesy of Urban Dictionary

chav:

1. Picture this a young lad about 12 years of age and 4 ½ feet high baseball cap at ninety degrees in a imitation addidas tracksuit, with trouser legs tucked into his socks (of course, is definitely the height of fashion). This lad is strutting around, fag in one hand jewellery al over the over, outside McDonalds acting as if he is 8 foot tall and built like a rugby player, when some poor unsuspecting adult (about 17/18) walks round the corner wanting to go to mcdonalds for his dinner glances at the young lad, the young lad jumps up in complete disgust and says “Whats your problem? Wanna make sommin of it? Bling Bling” when the adult starts to walk towards the young lad, the young lad pisses himself and runs off to either his pregnant 14-year-old girlfriend or his brother in the army crying his eyes out.

2. Derived from Chatham in Kent, this term can be applied loosely to every culture with a nasty, thieving element. There are many variants of this creature but all are subject to the following commonalities:
* Chavs are completely amoral, having never been subjected to right and wrong by their inattentive, uncaring and often absent parents.
* Chavs are part Magpie, evidentially supported by their love of all things shiny, or as vaccuous, illiterate street-slang would say 'Bling'. They can be seen twokking from the Jewelry counter in Argos/Index.
* Whatever their ethnic background, Chavs have a built-in affinity to hip-hop/R&B, even if they are inherently racist (see the Scottish). They see their life as glamorous and cool.
* Chavs are for the most part, extremely stupid. However, some of them render a form of low cunning, which can be misinterpreted as intelligence. However this is false. A Chav has no desire to better themself through honest means nor learn anything outside of car modification.
* All chavs think that they are nails. Again, this is false. Sitting in a beaten up nova smoking lamberts does not precipitate a healthy body. The irony being that a Chav owns mainly sportswear, yet will only break a sweat if running from the police.
* Chavs are incredibly fertile beasts, and are highly successful breeders. Where they come unstuck is having to look after the offspring which their 13 yr old drunken fumble produces. More often that not the child will crow to be a Chav, having received no more guidance on life than the parent.

3. Commonly thought to be of inferior intellect, the Chavette surprises us with its cunning plan to avoid taking up a professional career and provide itself with free accommodation supplied by tax payers by spawning multi coloured mini chavs at a early stage in life, usually mid teens.

Clearly recognisable by their distinctive tribal Burberry they congregate in town centres and on street corners, Chavs have a reputation of being creative with public property and motor vehicles, building themselves Chaviots out of mechcano sets and strip lighting, and providing us with humorous banta written on toilet walls like ‘Shit’ and ‘Tasha woz ere’ in an attempt to relieve our boredom while urinating.

[wildhorses]

1. ok, that is sad...

did NOT click on the link...does it give pronunciation? is it long A or short A?? is the C silent? what is the American term for these poster children for sterilization (i'm kidding...i think)

[tjwmason]

2. Short A

There's also a regional variant which predominates in Scotland - "Ned".

[RumpusCat]

3. American equivalent = white trash

Specifically of the 'wannabe gansta' sort. Beware, though, as that term has inspired some mighty flame wars 'round these parts.

[Rabrrrrrr]

4. Ah, yes, the British version of street filth.

Sadly, they are in all cultures.

[KamaAina]

5. David Beckham and Posh Spice are said to be the king and queen of chavs

for whatever that's worth... :shrug:

[billyskank]

10. Nah - Wayne Rooney and his girlfriend beat the Beckhams

It's no contest.

[Blue_Tires]

6. lol

www.chavscum.co.uk

and of course, the chav messiah is none other than Wayne Rooney

[wildhorses]

7. this would be a sub-culture.....

what generation is this...x-y-z?? what's left??

[Bucky]

8. After Gen Z comes "Generation zzzz". Hopefully followed by Gen A.A.

And yes, Chavs on both sides of the Atlantic put the "sub" in subculture.

[T_i_B]

9. This is a regular topic in the UK forum actually

Some of us UK DUers maintain that Chav-bashing is little more then prejudice against working class youth, some of us (well, mostly me really) maintain that there's a lot more to it then that.

That said, some of the Chav-bashing does get out of hand at times. Somebody has even gone to the trouble of getting a book of Chav-bashing published, and worst still it's in the "humour" section of the bookshop, despite the slight problem that the book is about as much of a laugh as a visit to the local morgue. Do we really need to be bombarded with Chavs v Greebo's the entire time?

[billyskank]

11. I'd never thought about it before

but I can see that it is quite possible to be working class and not a chav.

[T_i_B]

14. It's totally possible

Indeed it's actually quite commonplace to find middle class kids being Chavs. However, all too often the left likes to brandish theories to the contrary. Here is a good example.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/britain/article/0,,1751272,00.html

[redqueen]

15. I never considered the alternative...

and in fact, I consider that to be bashing the working class... calling them all chavs... !

[billyskank]

17. Yes I guess it is

Not that the word is one I use on a regular basis. I read about it a lot, but don't meet any.

[Taverner]

12. Thing is, like the US white trash that does the same thing with baggy pant

pants rather, and similar bling - how could they not expect riddicule if they do what they do...

[elperromagico]

13. I love Urban Dictionary.

Those definitions are, unfortunately, dead-on.

[KFC]

16. I like "Yobbo" better

Or Yob. Not the same as chavs - more violent. Seems that there are a number of them in Newcastle.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

18. I definitely saw chav types when I was in England last month, but

I also saw something else: how bifurcated their economy is. There were expensive stores, and there were dirt-cheap stores that make K-Mart look classy, as well as an incredible number of thrift stores. There were few mid-range stores. The real estate was mostly terribly expensive, and then there were the council flats.

There's also a bifurcation in literacy. Over the years, I have been impressed by how erudite and skilled with language many British people are, but at the same time, you see some real borderline illiterates, including some of the people I exchanged e-mail with in preparation for my trip.

This is the legacy of Thatcher's Britain, young people whose parents or even grandparents were thrown out of work by Thatcher's policies and who have grown up without hope or without the life skills to break out of their lifestyle.

People who are stereotyped can easily internalize the stereotype if they aren't savvy enough to break through it.

I would agree that most of the chav types appeared pretty dim, but it looks as if the state schools aren't doing much to enlighten them.