Can someone explain chavs to me?

disphenoidal · Post by **disphenoidal** » Sun Feb 11, 2007 9:09 pm

My roommate listens to British hip-hop and is always talking about chavs, but I still don't get what they are.

Any Brits in here care to help enlighten me?

Tephras · Post by **Tephras** » Sun Feb 11, 2007 9:22 pm

Wikipedia wrote:Chav is a mainly derogatory slang term in some parts of the United Kingdom for a subcultural stereotype fixated on fashions such as gold jewellery (often cheap) and 'designer' clothing. They are generally considered to have no respect for society, as well as being considered ignorant or unintelligent.

Bobfantastic · Post by **Bobfantastic** » Mon Feb 12, 2007 1:33 am

In Scotland they're called 'Neds'.

Mainly characterised by- crap haircuts*, tracksuits (for running from the Feds), big nasty jewellery (sovereign rings and plastic pimp-chains), and the genetic diversity of an amoeba. An education is unlikely, as is any form of legal employment. Techno/trance music is a favourite, and can be heard blasting out from passing Vauxhall Novas and white Ford Fiestas- both of these vehicles are likely to have suffered some form of 'modification', usually through Duck tape (to add chrome highlights) and tin cans (for that supercar exhaust noise).

This site is essential viewing for anyone unsure of how to identify a ned, and also for anyone who fancies walking around Glasgow without an armed guard: Glasgow Survival

*In my area, they're often referred to as 'Badgers' due to the blonde streak usually dyed along the top of the head. This may well be a regional variation, like the style of tracksuit of the particular counterfeiter who provides their attire.

Chavs are basically the same, but are an English version- however, they do include a growing proportion of 'Hip-hop Superstars', which means they wear Ice instead of Gold, and tend to be better armed than their Northern counterparts. Think rusty shotgun vs golf clubs.

Hope this helps, and remember: If in doubt- speed up, keep quiet, and break their legs.

Erssa · Post by **Erssa** » Mon Feb 12, 2007 3:14 am

Bob:

Trip · Post by **Trip** » Mon Feb 12, 2007 11:46 am

What a great word!

Americans call them white trash, rednecks, wiggers, or metrosexuals, but such words have multiple meanings.

We need an unambiguous word like ned or chav! This was a real problem for me when describing a chav who was not a hunter/fisher/truck driver and between wigger and metrosexual.

klankymen · Post by **klankymen** » Mon Feb 12, 2007 11:51 am

Trip wrote:What a great word!

Americans call them white trash, rednecks, wiggers, or metrosexuals, but such words have multiple meanings.

We need an unambiguous word like ned or chav! This was a real problem for me when describing a chav who was not a hunter/fisher/truck driver(redneck) and between wigger and metrosexual.

I don't think chavs actually exist in the US....

Trip · Post by **Trip** » Mon Feb 12, 2007 12:01 pm

So if a Chav sneaks aboad a freighter with a couple gallons of vitamin c enriched mad dog and 3 weeks later scurries out into the land of the free, he's not a Chav-American?

qviri · Post by **qviri** » Mon Feb 12, 2007 12:03 pm

Trip wrote:So if a Chav sneaks aboad a freighter with a couple gallons of vitamin c enriched mad dog and 3 weeks later scurries out into the land of the free, he's not a Chav-American?

No, he's a British-American, unlike most of the people around him who are British-American-American.

Trip · Post by **Trip** » Mon Feb 12, 2007 12:08 pm

You can find a related species anywhere in the eastern US: Miami, foothills of West Virginia, and on up to New Jersey. I haven't been out west much, but I'm sure they have their share.

My old accounting teacher had a run in with a Chav who lived in a run-down house his father bought for him. After teacher complained to a neighbor that neighbor's drive way was actually built on his property, another neighbor (Chav) proceeded to hit him with his car as the professor was jogging.

So after having just moved into this house, the professor is going to move again. Isn't that the wildest story? The fool actually hit my old professor with his car! Similar instances happen all the time around here though. My sister just broke up with one who afterwards shot her car up with paintballs while she was in it. (he waited for her outside) This guy is so messed up the army reserve says he's too immature to serve in Iraq yet.

My parents also mentioned they found paintballs on their house, and he's threatened my sister since then... I told her to go see the police.

She was on the rebound so to speak and I guess he was cute I dunno why she liked him... Her previous boyfriend was captain of the tennis team.

I had another run in a few months ago when, after telling a Chav to leave a girl alone, he pulled a knife on me that wasn't 2 inches long. I've never seen a sawed off golf club as was mentioned on the ned site, but his was the tinniest knife and he did this in a public area with lots of people around. I told him I'd have him arrested if he tried to use it and that I wasn't going to step outside so he could get at me. I can think of other stories, as can most anyone, but I'll stop now.

jaganath · Post by **jaganath** » Mon Feb 12, 2007 1:27 pm

klankymen wrote:I don't think chavs actually exist in the US....

Don't you guys have like poor white trailer trash? That's basically what chavs are.

klankymen · Post by **klankymen** » Mon Feb 12, 2007 1:29 pm

jaganath wrote:
klankymen wrote:I don't think chavs actually exist in the US....
Don't you guys have like poor white trailer trash? That's basically what chavs are.

well, yeah, but I think the difference from fake burberry and techno to wifebeaters and country are significant enough to no longer qualify them as chavs.

Trip · Post by **Trip** » Mon Feb 12, 2007 1:50 pm

The ones here don't listen to country... though they do wear wife beaters.

They listen to techno, rap, metal, and/or hard rock depending on the part of the country they're in and degree of urbanisation.

Some who live in the country grew up without leaving their tiny area with only MTV as a window to the outside world and as a result do mix the country / Chav characteristics. They usually listen to rap though not country. I saw a movie based on such a guy, but I can't think of what it was... Anyway they do exist.

disphenoidal · Post by **disphenoidal** » Mon Feb 12, 2007 2:11 pm

Trip wrote:So if a Chav sneaks aboad a freighter with a couple gallons of vitamin c enriched mad dog and 3 weeks later scurries out into the land of the free, he's not a Chav-American?

If he's from the UK, wouldn't he carry Olde English 800 or Mickeys to ward off scurvy and sobriety?

That aside, I don't think we have chavs here. That's what confused me, they're not really analogous to any group in the US. It seems more like they combine traits from all the different dregs of society.

Sooty · Post by **Sooty** » Mon Feb 12, 2007 2:29 pm

Britney & Kev F.

http://fastlad.blogspot.com/2005/12/bri ... queen.html

disphenoidal · Post by **disphenoidal** » Mon Feb 12, 2007 2:52 pm

I always thought of Britney as a good example of white trash/trailer trash. Also, tasteless car modification is pretty widespread in the US. Riced out Fast and the Furious style cars are common in lots of groups. Do chavs do 22-inch wheels or spinners?

jaganath · Post by **jaganath** » Mon Feb 12, 2007 3:14 pm

Do chavs do 22-inch wheels or spinners?

See, chavs are poor, so usually they will buy a Vauxhall Nova (incredibly cheap and old car) or similar and then spend several Â£'000 giving it a tasteless paint job, big stereo and alloys that cost more than the car. This is a classic example:

http://www.tyresmoke.net/gallery/chav/clio_rear

and this one:

http://www.tyresmoke.net/gallery/chav/image_01

Also see:

Urban Dictionary: Chavmobile

Chavmobile accessories include.
1) an exhaust you can fit your head in connected to a 1.1Ltr engine.

2) A bin lid sized sub woofer making the obligatory elephant flatulence noise.

3)Twatty blue L.E.D's on every available surface.

4)Underlighting, making it look like they ran over a sunbed.

5) Alloy wheels worth 3 times the value of the car.

6) An imaginative use of airfix paint to "customize" the dashboard.

P.S running all of these accessories uses up about 80% of the available engine power.

Every country has their own specific underclass, with unique differences but also many similarities (lack of respect for the law, violent tendencies, lack of education, little or no employment or of the criminal kind).

andyb · Post by **andyb** » Mon Feb 12, 2007 5:34 pm

Some more Chav links.

http://www.chavscum.co.uk/

http://www.chavworld.co.uk/jokes.htm

http://www.ihate.org.uk/wiki/Chavs

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=chavs

The associated ASBO - im pretty happy that its not just London thats full of Chavs, and even happier to see that Manchester has more

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASBO

http://www.crimereduction.gov.uk/asbos/asbos2.htm

Let me also introduce "The Pikey", this is what "Chavs" would be if they got a whole shitload worse, they make "Chavs" look like Angels.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pikey

No.1 and No.7 are a must read.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=pikey

The film "Snatch" gives a good idea of what a "Pikey" is like, "Brad Pitt" was the "Pikey Scum" for those who havent seen the film.

http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0208092/

Andy

peteamer · Post by **peteamer** » Tue Feb 13, 2007 11:18 am

Bobfantastic wrote:..and the genetic diversity of an amoeba...

[salutes] Bob, you are fantastic [/salutes]

GamingGod · Post by **GamingGod** » Tue Feb 13, 2007 12:18 pm

Rednecks here listen to rap and country. But then again just about everyone listens to rap now except for me

Bobfantastic · Post by **Bobfantastic** » Wed Feb 14, 2007 12:34 am

It may sound harsh, but then you see this sort of thing...

...and you realise that far from having webbed toes, they've probably got flippers instead

student · Post by **student** » Wed Feb 14, 2007 1:29 pm

Metrosexuals are a different ball game... they are those guys who really preen themselves, air kiss everyone at parties and often behave in an a manner with makes it hard to discern their sexual orientation. They exist in most social classes, most commonly in the upwardly mobile middle.

If you take what Chavs do to their cars and equate it with what people do to perfectly respectable Seasonic Power supplies and other pc components in these forums, does it make the majority of SPCR posters Chavs?

peteamer · Post by **peteamer** » Wed Feb 14, 2007 11:54 pm

student wrote:If you take what Chavs do to their cars and equate it with what people do to perfectly respectable Seasonic Power supplies and other pc components in these forums, does it make the majority of SPCR posters Chavs?

nici · Post by **nici** » Wed Feb 14, 2007 11:59 pm

The chavmobiles are crap to begin with, they were crap when they were new and they are certainly not any less crap now.

Following the recent trend of car analogies on SPCR, doing a fanswap on a Seasonic is more like upgrading the brakes on your Ferrari to carbon ceramic

disphenoidal · Post by **disphenoidal** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 12:02 am

nici wrote: Following the recent trend of car analogies on SPCR, doing a fanswap on a Seasonic is more like upgrading the brakes on your Ferrari to carbon ceramic

That is, assuming carbon ceramic brakes are quieter than steel ones...

nici · Post by **nici** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 12:11 am

Not sure about that, i was thinking more in the lines of making something very good even better

A Ferrari isn't exactly quiet to begin with, the sound of mad italian horsepowers is one of the most beautiful sounds in the world though.

Post by **CA_Steve** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 5:43 am

This thread cracks me up.

Erssa · Post by **Erssa** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 6:17 am

student wrote:If you take what Chavs do to their cars and equate it with what people do to perfectly respectable Seasonic Power supplies and other pc components in these forums, does it make the majority of SPCR posters Chavs?

Chavs wouldn't buy seasonic. They'd most likely buy something like OCZ Modstream or something else with LEDs. Or they could buy a cheap generic PSU and pimp it up with a LED fan.

nici · Post by **nici** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 8:27 am

I think the PSU equivalent of a twenty year old fiesta or nova is something that is still functional but cheap, like a fortron designed ten years ago. Nothing really wrong with it, it just works and refuses to die.Then you paint it bright green, sleeve the cables orange, put chromed connectors on it, a really loud flashing LED fan with a gilded(fake) fanguard, and a turbo button for the fan to make it spin really fast to impress the girls when you carry it to the car in a burberry lan bag

klankymen · Post by **klankymen** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 8:38 am

nici wrote:I think the PSU equivalent of a twenty year old fiesta or nova is something that is still functional but cheap, like a fortron designed ten years ago. Nothing really wrong with it, it just works and refuses to die.Then you paint it bright green, sleeve the cables orange, put chromed connectors on it, a really loud flashing LED fan with a gilded(fake) fanguard, and a turbo button for the fan to make it spin really fast to impress the girls when you carry it to the car in a fake burberry lan bag

forgot a word

peteamer · Post by **peteamer** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 10:17 am

disphenoidal wrote:That is, assuming carbon ceramic brakes are quieter than steel ones...