# Help a yank, please. What is "Chav" in the UK? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 30, 2006, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-yank-please-what-is-chav-in-the-uk/342240 "2006-01-30T18:49:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2006, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-yank-please-what-is-chav-in-the-uk/342240/21 "2006-01-31T13:56:53Z")
Followup: UK Chavs: [http://img235.imageshack.us/img235/9900/kinkichavs015470x3526zd.jpg](http://img235.imageshack.us/img235/9900/kinkichavs015470x3526zd.jpg) [http://img54.imageshack.us/img54/4407/kinkichavs024470x3525sq.jpg](http://img54.imageshack.us/img54/4407/kinkichavs024470x3525sq.jpg) [http://img54.imageshack.us/img54/1130/kinkichavs026470x3526qh.jpg](http://img54.imageshack.us/img54/1130/kinkichavs026470x3526qh.jpg) [http://img54.imageshack.us/img54/5203/kinkichavs033470x3520mx.jpg](http://img54.imageshack.us/img54/5203/kinkichavs033470x3520mx.jpg) [http://img54.imageshack.us/img54/5682/kinkichavs040470x3521om.jpg](http://img54.imageshack.us/img54/5682/kinkichavs040470x3521om.jpg) [http://img54.imageshack.us/img54/1305/kinkichavs048470x3521ri.jpg](http://img54.imageshack.us/img54/1305/kinkichavs048470x3521ri.jpg) US Guidos: [http://img356.imageshack.us/img356/5784/guido017aa.jpg](http://img356.imageshack.us/img356/5784/guido017aa.jpg) [http://img356.imageshack.us/img356/6640/guido020ju.jpg](http://img356.imageshack.us/img356/6640/guido020ju.jpg) [http://img356.imageshack.us/img356/3361/guido033pl.jpg](http://img356.imageshack.us/img356/3361/guido033pl.jpg) [http://img356.imageshack.us/img356/5962/guido049mk.jpg](http://img356.imageshack.us/img356/5962/guido049mk.jpg) [http://img78.imageshack.us/img78/7257/cimg35187rs7ba.jpg](http://img78.imageshack.us/img78/7257/cimg35187rs7ba.jpg) [http://img78.imageshack.us/img78/1453/theone3gm.jpg](http://img78.imageshack.us/img78/1453/theone3gm.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2006, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-yank-please-what-is-chav-in-the-uk/342240/22 "2006-01-31T14:01:31Z")
Gosh, our chavs are a lot uglier than your guidos. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2006, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-yank-please-what-is-chav-in-the-uk/342240/23 "2006-01-31T14:25:39Z")
It’s sad, O British cousins. In the days of Mod you were the world’s most fashion forward nation. Joe Jackson sang odes to looking sharp. Ian Dury ranked sartorial pleasures along with sex, drugs, and rock-‘n’-roll. Every bi’ of clothing ought to make you pretty. See my tailor, he’s called Simon, I know it’s going to fit. How the chic have fallen. ---
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2006, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-yank-please-what-is-chav-in-the-uk/342240/24 "2006-01-31T14:46:08Z")
> [@pretend my name is witty](#): > > loose-fitting giant condoms (_that’s_ a phrase I doubt’s been said before) [Oh, don’t be too sure](http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00062WAMI.01-A1Z7WXP5A9XTAL._SCMZZZZZZZ_.jpg). –Cliffy ---
**Author:** ![pretend\_my\_name\_is\_witty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b9e5f3/32.png) [@pretend\_my\_name\_is\_witty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pretend_my_name_is_witty)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2006, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-yank-please-what-is-chav-in-the-uk/342240/25 "2006-01-31T15:19:13Z")
Joke about Chav culture, or lack thereof: Two Chavs are in a car, and (shock) no loud dance music is playing. Who’s driving? The police officer! ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2006, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-yank-please-what-is-chav-in-the-uk/342240/26 "2006-01-31T15:27:47Z")
Looking at elmwood’s links it seems to me that one of the defining characteristics of the UK chav is red eye. Don’t cameras in the UK fix that? ---
**Author:** ![sunfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/96bed5/32.png) [@sunfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sunfish)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2006, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-yank-please-what-is-chav-in-the-uk/342240/27 "2006-01-31T15:57:54Z")
> [@elmwood](#): > > US Guidos: Oh man, do those photos ever remind me of my teenage years, working in a mall in Yonkers. But back then the guys’ hair was slick, not spikey, and they were more prone to the muscle shirt look. And a girl’s hair wasn’t done if she hadn’t poofed it out with the help of half a can of AquaNet. (Think of Melanie Griffith’s blue collar friends in _Working Girl._) ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2006, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-yank-please-what-is-chav-in-the-uk/342240/28 "2006-01-31T18:54:44Z")
What do you call a chav in a suit? The accused. ---
**Author:** ![irishgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@irishgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/irishgirl)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2006, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-yank-please-what-is-chav-in-the-uk/342240/29 "2006-01-31T19:00:34Z")
Chav itself is said to come from the Roma word “Chaaver” meaning prostitute. The sad, sad thing about Buckfast is that it was originally made by some Benedictine monks, they must be so sad to see who drinks it now. It’s popular among Irish students too. ---
**Author:** ![MizGrand](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cdc98d/32.png) [@MizGrand](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MizGrand)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2006, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-yank-please-what-is-chav-in-the-uk/342240/30 "2006-02-01T13:51:37Z")
Well, here anyway, we call them “Raider Fans” **DARFC** ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2006, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-yank-please-what-is-chav-in-the-uk/342240/31 "2006-02-01T15:48:35Z")
Looks like plain old ghetto, to me. They even use the same dumbass hand gestures 'yo. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2006, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-yank-please-what-is-chav-in-the-uk/342240/32 "2006-02-01T16:04:59Z")
> [@elmwood](#): > > Guidos/Ginos tend to be on the friendly side, though, while I’m under the impression that Chavs are prone to random violence and bullying, like the “wilders” of New York City in the 1980s. If I was walking down the New Jersey shore, and a group of guidos was walking towards me, I wouldn’t have a fear in the world. If I was walking down some UK town high street, and chavs were coming towards me, I’d be a bit scared. Guido violence seems to emerge in the context of drugs and alcohol, and especially if there are women involved, if the observations of [this NYC nightclub bouncer](http://standingonthebox.blogspot.com/) are any indication. The blog, which is sometimes fascinating and sometimes self-congratulatory pap, details the author’s experience as a bouncer at a club frequented by the “bridge and tunnel” Guido crowd. If his observations are accurate, Guidos seem very quick to take offence at anyone even looking at them sideways, or at “their” women. The author has little but contempt for them. ---
**Author:** ![Fridgemagnet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/22d042/32.png) [@Fridgemagnet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fridgemagnet)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2006, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-yank-please-what-is-chav-in-the-uk/342240/33 "2006-02-01T16:21:12Z")
At this juncture, a link to [Goldie Lookin’ Chain](http://www.goldielookinchain.com/) is in order. Julie Burchill writes with some authority on Chav culture in [The Times](http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,7-1488120,00.html) newspaper. I particularly like the way they’ve subverted exclusive clothing brands, thus devaluing the currency. It appeals to my sense of mischief. At the end of the day, Chavs are just working class young people who know how to have a good time. They’re no more criminal or anti-social than any other tribe from any other class, and they really don’t deserve all the hate. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2006, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-yank-please-what-is-chav-in-the-uk/342240/34 "2006-02-01T17:31:01Z")
> [@gazpacho](#): > > Looking at elmwood’s links it seems to me that one of the defining characteristics of the UK chav is red eye. Don’t cameras in the UK fix that? Not when it’s the result of cheap alcohol and dope, they don’t! ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2006, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-yank-please-what-is-chav-in-the-uk/342240/35 "2006-02-01T20:52:58Z")
“Slapper” is a female chav, right? Of somewhat loose moral character? ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2006, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-yank-please-what-is-chav-in-the-uk/342240/36 "2006-02-01T20:58:28Z")
> [@Hippy Hollow](#): > > “Slapper” is a female chav, right? Of somewhat loose moral character? Not sure if it’s changed, but when i lived in England in the early '90s (before the term “chav” came into common usage), “slapper” was sometimes used as a fairly generic term for women of dubious moral character. Of course, as with many such epithets, women were often criticized for behavior that, if carried out by a man, would be seen as unproblematic or even admirable. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2006, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-yank-please-what-is-chav-in-the-uk/342240/37 "2006-02-01T23:45:41Z")
**Mhendo** is right, that ‘slapper’ is more universal than chav. The whole concept of ‘chav’ is pretty much gender-neutral. Anyone can dress that way, behave that way, act that way when stopped & searched. ---
**Author:** ![slaphead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@slaphead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slaphead)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2006, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-yank-please-what-is-chav-in-the-uk/342240/38 "2006-02-02T14:18:42Z")
> [@Fridgemagnet](#): > > At the end of the day, Chavs are just working class young people who know how to have a good time. They’re no more criminal or anti-social than any other tribe from any other class, and they really don’t deserve all the hate. Ummm - I think we must be working from slightly different definitions of ‘chav’. Compared to, say, Goths (hang around wearing black and whining) or surfers (hang around wearing shorts and boasting) chavs (hang around wearing Burberry threatening one another) are definitely more anti-social. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-yank-please-what-is-chav-in-the-uk/342240.md?page=1)