# Brits; What the heck is a Mucker Char Char? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 3, 2007, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-what-the-heck-is-a-mucker-char-char/425128 "2007-11-03T19:54:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2007, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-what-the-heck-is-a-mucker-char-char/425128/41 "2007-11-05T13:14:06Z")
I take it back about British tabloids having witty headines. There’s clearly supposed to be some kind of pun there, but fucked if I know what it is. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2007, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-what-the-heck-is-a-mucker-char-char/425128/42 "2007-11-05T13:28:00Z")
It’s not just the tabloids that love puns. The Guardian (quality paper) once wished that Michael Foot (former Labour party leader) would be appointed to lead a UN commission dealing with weapons as they could then print: Foot heads arms body! ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2007, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-what-the-heck-is-a-mucker-char-char/425128/43 "2007-11-05T13:42:06Z")
Didn’t “Dr Fuchs off to America” once slip past the censor? ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2007, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-what-the-heck-is-a-mucker-char-char/425128/44 "2007-11-05T16:55:30Z")
[QUOTE=glee] It’s not just the tabloids that love puns. The Guardian (quality paper) once wished that Michael Foot (former Labour party leader) would be appointed to lead a UN commission dealing with weapons as they could then print: Foot heads arms body! [/QUOTE] Didn’t a Scottish newspaper print something after the mighty Celtic were beaten by some lower div team ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Doris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@Sir\_Doris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Doris)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2007, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-what-the-heck-is-a-mucker-char-char/425128/45 "2007-11-05T17:22:40Z")
[QUOTE=chowder] Didn’t a Scottish newspaper print something after the mighty Celtic were beaten by some lower div team [/QUOTE] SUPER CALEY GO BALLISTIC CELTIC ARE ATTROCIOUS was a Sun headline after Celtic were beaten by Caledonian Thistle ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2007, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-what-the-heck-is-a-mucker-char-char/425128/46 "2007-11-05T17:41:38Z")
[QUOTE=maggenpye] As an insult. “You’re such a _Pollard!_” I’m fairly sure it’s from Little Brittain, where Vicky Pollard is a Chav in training [/QUOTE] :smack: yes, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2007, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-what-the-heck-is-a-mucker-char-char/425128/47 "2007-11-05T17:52:07Z")
The more dismal the pun, the more likely it is to get used. The _Liverpool Daily Post_ printed, on the occasion of Dr Vivan Fuchs’ departure on the Commonwealth Transantarctic Expedition, DR FUCHS OFF TO SOUTH ICE (and recycled the pun a year later, sharing it with the _Daily Express_ ) FUCHS OFF AGAIN. Other _double entrendres_ , intentional or not, from Fleet Street over the years, include 8TH ARMY PUSH BOTTLES UP GERMANS and MEAT SHORTAGE: MP’s ATTACK MINISTER and on William Randolph Hearst making some commonplace remarks about the merits of the pen and the sword HEARST: PEN IS MIGHTIER THAN SWORD (Source: Fritz Spiegl: _Keep Taking The Tabloids: What The Papers Say And How They Say It_) ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2007, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-what-the-heck-is-a-mucker-char-char/425128/48 "2007-11-05T18:39:56Z")
[QUOTE=Sir Doris] SUPER CALEY GO BALLISTIC CELTIC ARE ATTROCIOUS was a Sun headline after Celtic were beaten by Caledonian Thistle [/QUOTE] That’s the one, brilliant 😛 ---
**Author:** ![manx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/65b543/32.png) [@manx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manx)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2007, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-what-the-heck-is-a-mucker-char-char/425128/49 "2007-11-05T19:09:11Z")
And while we’re on the subject, what’s a pikey? Some sort of unpleasant teenager, I’ve gathered, but is there a specific meaning? ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2007, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-what-the-heck-is-a-mucker-char-char/425128/50 "2007-11-05T19:33:40Z")
Pikey: a Gypsy. PC name, ‘Travellers’. a.k.a. didicoi or TGBs (Thieving Gypsy Bastards) ---
**Author:** ![nd\_n8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/439d5e/32.png) [@nd\_n8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nd_n8)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2007, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-what-the-heck-is-a-mucker-char-char/425128/51 "2007-11-05T20:03:03Z")
_Wearing his trademarked black beret, a freshly pressed, powder blue jogging suit and two kilograms of silver plated trinkets shaped like dollar signs and oversized shell cartridges; Chav Guverra strolls into the war room tokin’ a blunt he calls “Fidelio” and hittin’ a forty of Dos XXs._ ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2007, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-what-the-heck-is-a-mucker-char-char/425128/52 "2007-11-05T20:31:33Z")
As the Wikipedia articles note, both _chav_ and, to a lesser degree _pikey_, are sometimes regarded as having racist connotations (because of their link to the Romani language and Irish traveller communities respectively). They’re still pretty common on TV, but not always without controversy. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2007, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-what-the-heck-is-a-mucker-char-char/425128/53 "2007-11-05T20:37:09Z")
I’d say the opposite, that chav has shaken off most of its racial origins (except perhaps in the north-east where ‘charv’ lives on). Pikey, on the other hand, is very definitely a derogatory racist term. ---
**Author:** ![Wallenstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5a626/32.png) [@Wallenstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallenstein)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2007, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-what-the-heck-is-a-mucker-char-char/425128/54 "2007-11-05T20:46:57Z")
“Chav” has only recently been adopted as the word of choice - as noted, scots have had “neds” for years, in Liverpool they’re “scallies”, and down our way they were always “barries” or “kevs”. I think the chavscum website helped unify these various terms into a single, national term. I should also point out that something / someone can be “munting” (ie. nasty / awful), and getting drunk can be referred to as “getting proper munted”. ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2007, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-what-the-heck-is-a-mucker-char-char/425128/55 "2007-11-05T20:52:28Z")
[QUOTE=GorillaMan] I’d say the opposite, that chav has shaken off most of its racial origins (except perhaps in the north-east where ‘charv’ lives on). [/QUOTE] I must say, I’ve never known charva, as used in the North East, to have any racial component at all, but to indicate life-style choices and behaviour. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2007, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-what-the-heck-is-a-mucker-char-char/425128/56 "2007-11-05T21:01:07Z")
[QUOTE=WotNot] I must say, I’ve never known charva, as used in the North East, to have any racial component at all, but to indicate life-style choices and behaviour. [/QUOTE] I will admit that my source of data is one London-based Geordie! ---
**Author:** ![Tool\_of\_the\_Conspiracy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@Tool\_of\_the\_Conspiracy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tool_of_the_Conspiracy)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2007, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-what-the-heck-is-a-mucker-char-char/425128/57 "2007-11-05T21:01:46Z")
[QUOTE=fetus] (Interesting cross-dialect-confusion tidbit: “Burma” is actually pronounced “Bahma” in that region; the English transcribed the name of the country in the way that they would spell it if it were an English word, and now us Americans pronounce it, well, like we do.) [/QUOTE] And then they did it again when they renamed it–the “r” is silent in Myanmar too. The two names come from the same Burmese root word. If you want to pick up British cursing, I recommend [B3ta.com](http://B3ta.com). Before I started visiting there, I didn’t know what “spacker”, “minge” or “mong” meant. ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2007, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-what-the-heck-is-a-mucker-char-char/425128/58 "2007-11-06T08:33:34Z")
[QUOTE=Tool of the Conspiracy] And then they did it again when they renamed it–the “r” is silent in Myanmar too. The two names come from the same Burmese root word. If you want to pick up British cursing, I recommend [B3ta.com](http://B3ta.com). Before I started visiting there, I didn’t know what “spacker”, “minge” or “mong” meant. [/QUOTE] One of the proud claims we Brits have is the fact that our cursing and slang beats the shit out of any other in the world. Rule Brittania 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2007, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-what-the-heck-is-a-mucker-char-char/425128/59 "2007-11-06T11:36:02Z")
[QUOTE=Sir Doris] SUPER CALEY GO BALLISTIC CELTIC ARE ATROCIOUS was a Sun headline after Celtic were beaten by Caledonian Thistle [/QUOTE] The _Times_, IIRC, remarked on Surrey County Cricket Club’s performance when they had the county championship pretty much wrapped up for the current year: SURREY WITH THE BINGE ON TAP. _Bike_ magazine featured someone’s road-legal conversion of a racing sidecar outfit under the heading: SLUNG LOW STREET CHARIOT. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2007, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-what-the-heck-is-a-mucker-char-char/425128/60 "2007-11-06T20:15:45Z")
[QUOTE=GorillaMan] ‘Munter’ - I thought that was pretty much universal, if mostly supplanted by minger nowadays. Plus it also offers us the verb ‘ming’. 🙂 [/QUOTE] No kidding? I thought, to “Ming,” you had to be merciless. 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-what-the-heck-is-a-mucker-char-char/425128.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-what-the-heck-is-a-mucker-char-char/425128.md?page=4)