Monday, January 19, 2009

Chav'ed

For those not familiar with the term, chav is a fairly derogatory name given to a particular sort of person. If I were to say that I'm a hippy, you'd have a picture in your mind of what sort of clothes I'd wear and what my attitudes would be. And so it is with chavs. Only no-one wants to be called a chav.

Yesterday in church I asked Rachel if I could try on her boots and if I could borrow them for a couple of hours one evening. I said, 'I want to dress up like a chav.'

Even as the words were slipping over my tongue I was curling, embryo-like, into 'oh no not again!' mode.

'Okay, well, I won't take that as an insult,' Rachel replied hesitantly.

What I should have done then was to explain not run away. I'm good at thinking - afterwards - what I should have done.

I hope she'll still lend me her boots ...

10 comments:

Berni said...

I had to Google 'chav' to see what it meant. Wasn't in use when I left UK. Your comment is something I would come out with before I realized it could be misconstrued. Good going

Puss-in-Boots said...

You sound like me, Liz. Open mouth and insert foot.

I've never heard of chav but then again, we have bogans and they could be the same...who knows nowadays.

Liz Hinds said...

Thanks, vic grace and puss. It's just so easy to do, isn't it?!

Anonymous said...

LOL! Ouch!

You should explain to her that a) some things look chav on one person, and not another - it depends on age, for one thing, and also what you wear them with, and b) uh ... yeah. Depends on what you wear them with. LOL!

Actually, 'chav' is as much an attitude, too, isn't it?

I hope you have gold hoop earrings big enough to rest on your shoulder - and don't forget the Croydon facelift. ;)

Furtheron said...

Where we live Chavs are an every present interest.

The occasional visit to Chavham - sorry Chatham High Street reveals them in their natural habitat. They are soul suckers - you see these people and they suck the goodness out of you, they destroy all hope you have that humanity can survive and prosper in the 21st century and they seem to fly in the face of Darwins theories on natural selection.

Still.... live and let live eh!

Oh and I'm often heard saying... "I shouldn't have said that should I?" Or "That didn't really sound the way I intended it to when formulating it in my brain"

Or just repeating mantra like "sorry" to people... We all do it at times.

Liz Hinds said...

oh plenty of bling, yes, jay.

Perhaps I should wear a badge saying that, furtheron, then when I'm so flustered I forget to explain, people will still understand.

Anonymous said...

Did Chav (m), or rather Chave(f), start out as an anagram of a silly French word? ;-)

Anonymous said...

Copying this over here -

The Croydon Facelift is when you have your hair pulled back so tightly into a pony tail that it gives you a very smooth forehead and a surprised expression. Oh, and it should be blonde, too, for authenticity.

Anonymous said...

@Jay,
yes I DO realise that you named your blog after Johnny Depp, but do YOU realise that "Depp" is the bavarian word for "a complete idiot" ? ;-)

Ooops....

Dragonstar said...

Big oops! Liz, we're so alike!