Should the Word Chav be Banned?
The word “chav” is unacceptable and should be banned, a left-wing think-tank has suggested. The widely used term according to the dictionary is derogatory slang for a young person of low social status, often wearing designer sportswear.’
Tom Hampson fro the Fabian Society, says the term betrays a deep level of “class hatred” and is “deeply offensive to a largely voiceless group” - which is utter nonsense IMO if you hear the abuse these kids give out on a Saturday night.
Simon Donald, the co-founder of Viz Magazine, feels the word was meant to be an insult and that it should remain.
Mr Hampson, who is Fabian Society editorial director - and was obviously born with a stick up his backside - says in an article due to be published in the Fabian Review that the word is “sneering and patronising”, and compared it to other controversial words such as “faggot” and “pikey”.
“Some uses of some words fall below the threshold of acceptability and some are definitely above it.
“Chav is way above that threshold. It is deeply offensive to a largely voiceless group and - especially when used in normal middle-class conversation or on national TV - it betrays a deep and revealing level of class hatred. It is distancing, turning the chav into the kind of feral beast that exists only in tabloid headlines”.
It was an example of the middle classes using language to belittle the lower classes, he said. “The middle classes have always used language to distinguish themselves from those a few rungs below them on the ladder - 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.”
But Mr Donald, speaking to BBC Radio Newcastle, said it was the Fabian Society itself which was patronising.
“Amongst everyone who I can see who uses the term it’s meant as a term to put others down and there’s always going to be language in society that does that, and I think the Fabian Society’s attempts to step in and become the voice of the working classes is frankly patronising.”
The Oxford English Dictionary classes chav as derogatory British slang. It is defined as “a young person of a type characterised by brash and loutish behaviour and the wearing of designer-style clothes (esp. sportswear); usually with connotations of a low social status”.
Tony Thorne, a language consultant for Kings College London, said people who were called chavs actually used the word themselves.??”It is part of today’s vocabulary, whether we like it or not, the word had originally been used by travellers to mean friend”, he added.
Its modern meaning became widely used in 2004, although it had been used in certain areas such as Essex and Kent for some time. Mr Thorne said: “What chav seems to me to mean is an aggressive, self-assured, unashamedly materialistic person. I don’t think ‘chavs’ are an innocent group of victims. We’re dealing with a genuine social phenomenon. Chav is like ’skinhead’ - it describes a type of behaviour and appearance that’s very identifiable.”
November 3rd, 2008 at 5:31 pm
“Chav” may be construed as offensive to chavs, but I guarantee you they say stuff a lot more offensive to random passers by for no good reason. Chavs are not a largely voiceless group, in fact they seem to be shouting wherever they go
December 13th, 2008 at 9:58 pm
i dont think it should be band!
bcos if you ban the word chav
they should ban the word
emo, greebo etc.
December 15th, 2008 at 11:00 pm
Tbh chav is a low status
because they are
and they normaly depic what it says as the definition of a ‘chav’
why should it be banned?
December 23rd, 2008 at 10:00 am
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December 30th, 2008 at 4:26 pm
Yes, the word ‘chav’ is derogatory. It’s also teasing. Friends call each other it in jest, people call themselves it to brag… It’s just a word that has developed as yet another label.
The issue of class divides stems from that it’s often the working classes who dress and act like this, to be labelled as such, but even in the middle classes you’ll find that it’s still used as an insult for each other, still commenting on the way people dress or act, despite their status.
It’s simply another label. Emo, goth, chav, nerd… It’s just an aspect of society that people have already accepted.
January 6th, 2009 at 7:58 pm
I know of Chavs who call themselves Chavs. They can hardly insult themslevs
January 13th, 2009 at 10:41 pm
chavs go around shouting abuse at people so they diserved to be called and aparently offensive word
May 15th, 2009 at 11:59 am
Look chavs/neds whatever you call them there the scum underclass that causes most if not all of the crime anti social behavior teenage pregnancy etc etc etc, There brought up in slum areas by uneducated unemployed parents and they do not know any different…..Why? because the government pays lazy CHAVS to sit on there arse all day doing nothing?? People labeling them chavs/neds are stating facts, if they dont like what they are….change its simple its typical for the likes of”Tom Hampson, editorial director of the Fabian Society” to say its wrong well i bet they dont have to live amongst them day in day out, the word Chav is no different than the word thug its simply a statement! And Tom Hampson your trying to cover the problem hows about you take your issue up with the government after all they created them!!