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What Word? [Dan Collins]

The word ‘chav’ is a weapon of class hatred and should be banned, Left-wing academics claim.

The Fabian Society believes the term, a common derogatory expression for a brash white working-class person, is offensive.

It wants to silence those who use it to describe loutish types in Burberry baseball caps, scraped-back hairdos and clanking fake gold ‘bling’ jewellery.

The obnoxious teenage single mother Vicky Pollard, played by Matt Lucas in the BBC comedy Little Britain, is a prime example.

Tom Hampson, The Fabian Society’s editorial director, said the word chav must be banished from enlightened circles.

It should not be acceptable to anyone who believes they are ‘progressive’ in their politics, he said.

‘You cannot consider yourself of the Left and use the word,’ he added.

Use of the word, he continued, ‘Is declasse.  Stupid cunts.’

38 Replies to “What Word? [Dan Collins]”

  1. lunarpuff says:

    I see their point. Too similar to shiv. Heehehhehe.

  2. RR Ryan says:

    Or calf.

  3. happyfeet says:

    One must reflect similarly upon the word royal I would think.

  4. Mikey NTH says:

    Huh? Sorry – white middle-class American here, only derogatory terms I know for working class are considered terms of art for the rarified precincts of the Beeb.

  5. Lamontyoubigdummy says:

    It’s ‘a-LOO-minum.’

    Fucking wankers.

  6. Log Cabin says:

    Ah, yes! The highly tolerant left, the guardians of free speech rights, once again instructing the stupid common man on what is acceptable speech.

    The leftards must have no mirrors at all.

  7. Ouroboros says:

    The whole issue of class based subculture in Britain is fascinating.. (Chavs, Yobs, Casual Hooligan Firms, etc) When Sacha Baron Cohen did Ali G he was criticized for being racist and poking fun at blacks… His response was that he wasn’t poking fun at blacks.. he was poking fun at the Brits that emulated the American Gangsta Black culture that they’d never actually been exposed to.. (Sacha must be well travelled to know that the gangstaz aren’t as cool and noble in real life as they are in the movies)

    Articles on the subject tend to skirt the issue of race and the Chav culture.. Is it primarily a white thang or non-white or a mixture of races? How bout Yobs.. Poor working whites or is the term used for all working class youth? (that don’t wear Burberry)

    Wish they’d have just stuck with Mods and Rockers.. I could keep them straight then..

  8. Ouroboros says:

    Aluminum = a LOO min ee um
    Leicester = LEST er
    Sade = SHAR day

    Brit talk.. Follows no known rules.
    Go figure…

  9. apotheosis says:

    There are, in fact, rules. With examples:

    http://www.vic.com/~dbd/kibology/biscuit

  10. Techie says:

    What about “Gumby”?

  11. Dan Collins says:

    Now it seems they’ve all become Rods and Mockers.

  12. lunarpuff says:

    And it’s ‘vee-ut-nuh-meez’. One ‘n’ and one ‘m’.

    Maybe not a wanker thing, but the point should be made.

  13. Ouroboros says:

    I love the Brits.. For such a seemingly overly- PC group they have a rich and varied collection or race/class derogatory slang terms.. Chavs, Yobs, Pikeys, Casuals… and they way quicker to speak them out loud than Americans…

    Brad Pitt – Snatch – Hyper-Pike

  14. dre says:

    The Fabian Society is a British intellectual socialist movement, whose purpose is to advance the principles of Social democracy via gradualist and reformist, rather than revolutionary means. It is best known for its initial ground-breaking work beginning late in the nineteenth century and continuing up to World War I. The society laid many of the foundations of the Labour Party and subsequently affected the policies of states emerging from the decolonisation of the British Empire, especially India. The society is still in existence today and forms a vanguard “think tank” of the centre-left New Labour movement. It is one of fifteen socialist societies affiliated to the Labour Party

  15. dre says:

    Liberal Fascism!

  16. Big Bang Hunter (pumping you up) says:

    – Whats with all these socialist cults? Is it something the swells “do” when their lives are so completely devoid of meaning and purpose, its either join a Socialistic movement or just sit and listen to the sound of their own breathing?

    – I can’t imagine being that disinterested, or having that much time on my hands.

  17. MlR says:

    “Whats with all these socialist cults? Is it something the swells “do” when their lives are so completely devoid of meaning and purpose, its either join a Socialistic movement or just sit and listen to the sound of their own breathing?”

    Secular religion.

  18. psycho... says:

    ‘You cannot consider yourself of the Left and use the word,’ he added.

    No one but “middle class” leftists use it anymore. The word on the street is “Asbo,” a government-invented “derogatory expression for a brash white working-class person.” Fabians — always late.

    When Sacha Baron Cohen did Ali G he was criticized for being racist and poking fun at blacks… His response was that he wasn’t poking fun at blacks.. he was poking fun at the Brits that emulated the American Gangsta Black culture that they’d never actually been exposed to..

    He lied. At best, it’s an excuse for his being a shitty impressionist. As racists tend to be.

    Whats with all these socialist cults? Is it something the swells “do”

    Yes.

    I can’t imagine […] having that much time on my hands.

    Asbo.

  19. lunarpuff says:

    – I can’t imagine being that disinterested, or having that much time on my hands.

    HA! I would have said that not too long ago, but having unexpectedly lost my job of 17 years I have so much time!

    I’m going to try really hard not to annoy people, but I’ve had a few beers so you can’t really hold me to that!

  20. Dan Collins says:

    We’re glad to have you back, lp.

  21. Big Bang Hunter (pumping you up) says:

    – lunar sweets…. where yah been? Sorry to hear about the job thing.

  22. Ric Locke says:

    Fabians have been around for a long time. They predate Marx, even.

    Their membership has always been drawn from the upper classes, but not from the very top. Second sons, children of rich industrialists, that sort of thing. They can be most easily understood as usurpers — things will be so much better if the people in charge are deposed in favor of them, because they promise to rule kindly.

    Regards,
    Ric

  23. Dan Collins says:

    Oh, wow. I thought they were fans of that crooner.

  24. lunarpuff says:

    Goodness I’m sorry too. I haven’t been unemployed since I was 14. I feel pretty useless.

    And really in need of some laughs!

  25. Big Bang Hunter (pumping you up) says:

    – Well what can I say…When I’m down I just take a viagra…

  26. lunarpuff says:

    heehee!

    Hmmmm. I’d give it some thought but I no longer have insurance.

    I do have some very friendly contacts in my inbox offering to hook me up!

  27. Gray says:

    What kind of car does a chav drive?

    A Chavrolet.

    In Scotland, they are known as ‘neds’.
    “Mah wee lad ‘ees a fookin ned, ya ken?”

    And my favorite (I actually heard this exchange between my friend and her ‘relations’):

    Relation: “My Pa is retirin’ jest th’ noo.”
    Friend: “How th’ fook d’ya retire from th’ fookin dole?!”
    Relations (indignant): “He’s no’ gettin’ “th’ fookin dole” he’s a pensioner th’ noo, ye ken?”

    Bonnie Scotland: It’s like an Indian Reservation for pale white people….

  28. RTO Trainer says:

    LP, what kind of job did you do?

  29. lunarpuff says:

    I worked for a small software development firm that specialized in newspaper and magazine advertising and newspaper circulation.

    The Tribune Co. was our bread and butter for the last several years.

    Not much hiring in that industry right now!

  30. RTO Trainer says:

    I work with software developers. If you’d like, I’d pass on a resume for you.

    rtoDOTtrainerATgmailDOTcom

  31. lunarpuff says:

    Oh Dear God is there any way to edit comments? I need to take a line out.

    I still need references!

  32. Karl says:

    Fabians have been around for a long time. They predate Marx, even.

    I had to take Contracts from a prof who was still into Fabian socialism, even after the end of the Cold War.

  33. RTO Trainer says:

    Dan could edit that for you.

    Oh, Dan!…

  34. Lamontyoubigdummy says:

    “Their membership has always been drawn from the upper classes”…

    With this speech thing, it just sounds like they just want everyone as miserable as they are. You know like, “If Im not allowed to refer to my servants as ‘ethnics,’ then you can’t say ‘chav.’

  35. vincent says:

    #18 psycho,

    ASBO is short for Antisocial behaviour order.

    I thought the word on the street was that it is the collective noun for a bunch of chavs?

    As in an ASBO of chavs.

  36. McGehee says:

    Just as long as we don’t start hearing about dimpled chavs and pregnant chavs…

  37. Dan Collins says:

    Which line, lp?

  38. […] has a rather more perspicacious critique than mine from yesterday evening, which you can find here. Posted by Dan Collins @ 9:50 am | Trackback SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: […]

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