Be nice to Chavs say MPs
Discussion
Linkage: http://newssearch.bbc.co.uk/cgi-bin/search/results.pl?scope=newsukfs&tab=news&q=chav
Leave chavs alone, say MPs
By Brian Wheeler
BBC News politics reporter
They are rapidly becoming the most vilified group in British society.
Stephen Pound: Aspiring chav
Lampooned by comedians, attacked by social commentators, portrayed by the media as loud, vulgar and abusive, and increasingly seen as a drain on the public finances.
But at least MPs are able to speak up for themselves.
Is there anyone out there who will take up the cudgels on behalf of that other much maligned social subset - the chav?
Since the word crossed over into the mainstream last year, after first appearing on satirical websites, chav has become a catch-all term for a flash or showy working class person.
Everyone from millionaire footballer Wayne Rooney and his girlfriend Colleen to the shoplifting single mother character Vicky Pollard, from BBC One's Little Britain, has been labelled a chav.
The Sun newspaper ran a "proud to be chav" campaign.
'Underclass'
The word has even entered the dictionary, defined as "a young working class person who dresses in casual sports clothing".
I do feel strongly that people who think this is a genuine label are really only labelling themselves as snobs
Lembit Opik, Lib Dem MP
But one chav-baiting website sums it up more succinctly as Britain's "new peasant underclass".
Michael Collins, author of The Likes of Us, a biography of the white working classes, says there is nothing new about the middle classes sneering at working class people who are a "bit affluent" or showy.
But the difference with the chav phenomenon, he adds, is that much of the vitriol has come from people "who consider themselves progressive".
"It has become quite a jokey thing. But the white working class are the last acceptable group to demonise," he says.
Liverpool MP Louise Ellman sees parallels with the way Liverpudlian youths were labelled "scallies" in the 1980s.
"I think it is all too easy to label other groups with ugly-sounding words. I think it is negative and not very helpful," she says.
Jealous
Ealing MP Stephen Pound says he is happy to be the Parliamentary spokesman for the chav nation.
"Chavs" have entered the dictionary
"I am an aspirant chav. My off-duty wear is a Fulham shirt with 'these colours don't run' on it. I don't have a lot of gold rings, but I am saving up for them. My daughter had her ears pierced at a fairly young age," the Labour MP says.
He sees the chav phenomenon as an insidious form of social snobbery.
"People who use the word don't understand the joy and confidence in display. They are just jealous that they can't play football as well as Wayne Rooney.
"It is yet another example of class snobbery. What on earth is wrong with a bit of flash, a bit of bling bling. It keeps a lot of jewellers in business."
'Snobs'
Liberal Democrat MP Lembit Opik says he is angry about the way the word is used to attack young working class people, particularly when it is used in conjunction with other terms, such as "council house scum".
"The same people who talk about chavs probably used to talk about the lower classes as regrettable and nasty. It is like the last days of the Raj.
"I do feel strongly that people who think this is a genuine label are really only labelling themselves as snobs."
The only way to combat the word, Mr Opik argues, is to invent labels for people who use it.
"I would describe myself as a TAFF - a tolerant and friendly fellow, and I would describe who people who use the word chav as BAPS - boring and pompous snobs."
As one of the comments suggests, the only reason MPs are courting chavs is becasue of their ability to vote.
So i open it up to the PH massive and your views
I hate chavs and have fleeting, passing interests in football. So this TAFF is just another BAPS like me then 
behaviour. Thankfully their 'style' allows us to predict imminent trouble.Typical politician distorting our views and then attacking them. Most people are fed up of chavs not because of their social class (in the unemployed social class most likely), but because of their tendency to commit violent crimes and generally behave like scum. I didnt see that mentioned once in the article, and i have never once seen anyone use the word chav as a form of class snobbery.
Bloody left wing muppets..
Bloody left wing muppets..
Plotloss said:
scorp said:
i have never once seen anyone use the word chav as a form of class snobbery.
You've been a member for 3 months as well, PH is evidently becoming more liberal...
Im talking about outside of the forum, the point is, and i hope im not the only one to notice this, is that the word is normally used to mock scumbags because of their scumbag ways (and the fact they all come from the bottom rung of the social ladder isn't relevant), this politician is saying that we are mocking them because of their perceived social class.
Good old working class champions eh ?
>> Edited by scorp on Thursday 30th June 13:32
lack of parental responsibility
reduced discipline at school/home
no deterents regarding petty crime vandalism
the i want it all/now attitude of society bred by big brother, lottery, football players.
and the general
you, im alright / you cant touch me i know my rights as well.
Oh and beeding heart lefty lentilista.
reduced discipline at school/home
no deterents regarding petty crime vandalism
the i want it all/now attitude of society bred by big brother, lottery, football players.
and the general
you, im alright / you cant touch me i know my rights as well. Oh and beeding heart lefty lentilista.
It seems to be fashionable now - I've seen chav-looking kids being dropped off in town by very respectable looking parents.
I hope it's just a fad
Though as I said, the means of quick recognition is very handy. Funny thing about chavs though - you could pop one in an Alexandre suit and he's still look like he was going to court.
I hope it's just a fad
Though as I said, the means of quick recognition is very handy. Funny thing about chavs though - you could pop one in an Alexandre suit and he's still look like he was going to court.
My definition of chav.
Clad in Burberry down to the underpants.
Wears fake gold jewelry usually far in excess of the amounts a "normal" person might be seen wearing.
Unlikely to be seen at 10.00am due to being slouched on a sofa open mouthed and dribbling, watching "Trisha" trash tv while figuring out how to spell D-N-A, as in the test.
Behavioural problems are readily apparent in this species coupled with an inability to form long sentences, chavs instead preferring to communicate with "innit" and " ay?", "wicked" and "kickin".
A chavs ideal night out would be to go to MacD's, as Burgerking and Wimpy is just "common", the highlight of the meal being to throw their milkshakes over each other in some kind of weird bonding ceremony, maybe finishing up in the carpark afterwards for a fumble of the local chavettes "wares". Chav mating rituals are far outside the scope of this article and so will not be covered here.
A major characteristic that sets the chav aside from other subhuman species (traffic wardens and scamerati etc) is a phobic aversion to the words "work" and "Job".
Chavs feel no sense of shame at claiming dole or the more technically accurate "job seekers allowance" for themselves preferring the term "wages" to describe their giro's.
Other peculiarites of the breed: Chavs like ringtones, in fact theyre the absolute pinacle of chav aspirations. To have the latest inane ringtone from "Dickster" usually featuring a semi nude frog with a boss eye and a missing tooth,engenders chavs with a feeling of superiority over the lower orders of chavs who havent yet proven to have such "good taste".
This small article has only lightly touched on some of the more well known aspects of the "chav", as study in the wild is proving to be somewhat harder than first envisaged.
Maybe when the first "chav" colony is established, with a captive breeding programme, will the secrets of this useless breed of subhuman species become better understood.
Clad in Burberry down to the underpants.
Wears fake gold jewelry usually far in excess of the amounts a "normal" person might be seen wearing.
Unlikely to be seen at 10.00am due to being slouched on a sofa open mouthed and dribbling, watching "Trisha" trash tv while figuring out how to spell D-N-A, as in the test.
Behavioural problems are readily apparent in this species coupled with an inability to form long sentences, chavs instead preferring to communicate with "innit" and " ay?", "wicked" and "kickin".
A chavs ideal night out would be to go to MacD's, as Burgerking and Wimpy is just "common", the highlight of the meal being to throw their milkshakes over each other in some kind of weird bonding ceremony, maybe finishing up in the carpark afterwards for a fumble of the local chavettes "wares". Chav mating rituals are far outside the scope of this article and so will not be covered here.
A major characteristic that sets the chav aside from other subhuman species (traffic wardens and scamerati etc) is a phobic aversion to the words "work" and "Job".
Chavs feel no sense of shame at claiming dole or the more technically accurate "job seekers allowance" for themselves preferring the term "wages" to describe their giro's.
Other peculiarites of the breed: Chavs like ringtones, in fact theyre the absolute pinacle of chav aspirations. To have the latest inane ringtone from "Dickster" usually featuring a semi nude frog with a boss eye and a missing tooth,engenders chavs with a feeling of superiority over the lower orders of chavs who havent yet proven to have such "good taste".
This small article has only lightly touched on some of the more well known aspects of the "chav", as study in the wild is proving to be somewhat harder than first envisaged.
Maybe when the first "chav" colony is established, with a captive breeding programme, will the secrets of this useless breed of subhuman species become better understood.
The thing that gets me is these cackpipes (chavs, not politicos) never seem to look in the mirror (or at their chavvy mates), realise what an eyesore they are and do something about it.
I have yet to so much as see one of them who acts other than exactly how you expect them to act.
I'm not a snob, just a social realist
I have yet to so much as see one of them who acts other than exactly how you expect them to act.
I'm not a snob, just a social realist
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