According to Wikipedia, the word "chav" (see previous post) probably has its origins in the Romani word "chavi", meaning "child" or "chavo" meaning "boy", or "chavvy", meaning "youth". The word may have entered the English language through the Geordie dialect word "charva", meaning a rough child.
Many urban legends have sprung up around the etymology of the word. These include the backronym "Council Housed And Violent" or "Council House Associated Vermin". Though widely known and believed, these are definitely recent after-the-event inventions as attempts to explain the word.
The widespread use of the "chav" stereotype has come in for some criticism as amounting to no more than simple snobbery and elitism. Critics of the term have argued that its users are "neo-snobs", and that its increasing popularity raises questions about how British society deals with social mobility and class.
In a February 2005 article in The Times, Julie Burchill argued that use of the word is a form of "social racism", and that such "sneering" reveals more about the shortcomings of the "chav-haters" than those of their supposed victims. The writer John Harris argued along similar lines in a 2007 article in The Guardian. And that is the premise of Owen Jones's book, referred to in my last post.
Do we have chavs in North America? Your comments are invited.
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