28 September 2009

Chavs

Chavs being chavvish.

Just the other day, I spotted a male "chav" down by the local Methodist church. He was wearing a Burberrry hat, a blue-white shellsuit, expensive trainers with the tongues hanging out and some golden bling. It was as if he had stepped out of a satirical cartoon.

Fashion means nothing to me. I scorn fashion magazines and the cult of the pretty model. Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell and all the rest are empty headed nobodies in my book. In the developing world, people are starving or running from war but here in the west our media suggests that we should be obsessed with fashion and the dramatic lives that fashion models allegedly lead. I'm not. I despise all of that.

Back to the chav, lounging on the church wall like an urban lizard. Why would anyone consciously shop for a Burberry cap or the other items in the stereotypical costume that that chav was wearing? It defeats me. There were plenty of these chavs on the council estate where I was a teacher. I taught some of them. Having left school or outside school hours, they would sometimes approach me. "Hiya sir!" It felt like an invasion from the Planet Chav.
Can you tell me, do chavs have their own fashion magazines where they check out different caps and new shellsuit styles? Is there a section called "Bling" and is there another section devoted exclusively to branded trainers with big tongues? I picture chavs in urban living rooms weighing up the different merits of chavwear.

In Wikipedia they say this:- "The widespread use of the "chav" stereotype has come under criticism; some argue that it amounts to simple snobbery and elitism, and that serious social problems such as Anti-Social Behaviour Orders, teenage pregnancy, delinquency and alcoholism in low-income areas are not subjects for derision. 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."

How spiffing and right-on of Julie Burchill and John Harris to side with the chavs and call me a "neo-snob" if you wish but I hate chavism, hate the costumes and the attitudes, hate the herd-like way in which chavs stick together. I'd like to see Julie Burchill conforming with this dress code:-

10 comments:

  1. How did you manage to get a photo of my best going-out gear, innit?
    I have to confess to usually having a 'handbag' when I go out but then, it is useful for carrying my bling....innit, man!

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  2. Wouldn't 'Chavs' (which in itself is supposedly a form of racism due to the word originally meaning Gypsy) simply be working class young men in flat caps and thre-piece suits in the '30s?

    I think you have to pity the long-term unemployed, drug and alcohol abusing and uneducated youth of today and the social deprivation that's all around them not pour scorn on them.

    You don't get them in Thailand of course. Just snotty rich kids or peasants who don't have time or the money to 'chav it up'. a bit like their British counterparts from the '30s.

    The government's answer to today's problem is of course- better teachers from the private sector...

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  3. Well, I am really out of the loop, having never heard the term before you posted, YP. I googled "chav wiki" and learned a bit more.

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  4. I am so out of touch I had to look up the name Chav and Bling. I see a lot of girls dressed like the photo. Thought it was the modern trend rather than something more sinister. Didn't every generation have 'the gear'... wasn't it a 'must' to look and act the same rather than feel left out? I'm sure the current one isn't any different to mods, rockers, skinheads. That's not to say I approve, but the young will be young.

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  5. Chav & 'ull go together like sage & onion stuffing, walking along chewing gum splattered pavements, all you hear is 'f'in this & f'in that may't, makes me embarrassed to be human. council house & violent, spare me please, these are not long term unemployed & uneducated, these lot know exactly how to work the benefit system to extract the most ££ for the least effort a highly developed sub-species who will no doubt go far.

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  6. Chavs are, as muddyboots says, a sub-species - - they're not just young people who like dressing fashionably - a whole sub-culture goes with them, and it's all about things I don't like and don't agree with.

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  7. I have come here to irritate you by raising still further the hits for this post.

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  8. In Australia these are called bogans. I suggest there are a lot of other Chav haters out there with you to make this a HIT.

    ReplyDelete

Mr Pudding welcomes all genuine comments - even those with which he disagrees. However, puerile or abusive comments from anonymous contributors will continue to be given the short shrift they deserve. Any spam comments that get through Google/Blogger defences will also be quickly deleted.

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