You must have heard of Yuppies! Maybe you know your Dinkies from your Kippers but do you know what a Chav is? Are you one? Well, if you are you probably wouldn’t call yourself one because it is not a term of endearment. A Chav, as defined by Wikipedia “is a derogatory slang term currently in popular usage in the UK. It refers to a stereotype, lower class youth or young adult perceived as uneducated, uncultured and or violent” In the States they would probably be known as trailer-trash. In Britain the word is thought to originate from Chatham in Kent, and the word seems to have come from a Romany word for a child which was used as an insult in the nineteenth century but has now made a comeback.
The phenomenon of Chavdom, Chavviness or The Chav reached it’s height in late 2004 when the word was officially included in the Oxford English Dictionary and was named as it’s entry for that year in it’s list of 100 neologisms from 1904 to 2004. Now you might that the Chav is a short lived fad that will disappear in twelve months. But hold on, other words to be nominated in this list include karaoke (1979), sexy (1956) and text message (1998).
So how do you spot a Chav?
Well, apparently David Beckham and Britney Spears are the King and Queen of Chav, but they haven’t done too badly out of it have they? The secret to being a Chav is acting as the antithesis of James Bond: wearing expensive clothes with no style, losing your cool when everyone around you is keeping theirs, saying the wrong thing at the wrong time, drinking cocktails and going to late night parties and always looking like you’ve had one too many and of course having no charm.
The future of Chav’s
However, despite all the fun and games, the chav phenomenon has a sinister side.
Many people now associate the word chav with social problems such as public drunkenness, violence and teenage pregnancy. And of course there is the unpleasant fact that it is another group imposing a derogatory name on another group. A group that is, by and large, disadvantaged enough already.
So, is it all harmless fun or a frightening social trend? Gentle mockery or discrimination?
There is one group of people who never seem to be asked for their opinion: the chavs!
Glossary
Yuppies - Young urban professional
Dinkies - double income no kids
Kipper - kids in parents' pockets eroding retirement savings - IE An adult son or daughter, particularly one aged 30 or more, who still lives with his or her parents.
Derogatory - showing that you have a low opinion of someone or something
Antithesis - the opposite of
Neologism - a new word/phrase
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