5/10/11 - Chav The Origin
Where did the word Chav originate?
I am trying to uncover the true origin of the word Chav, it's place in the English language and the Oxford Dictionary. It would seem Jo has excitingly found someone form The University of Kent, that has written a lot on the word, and are looking forward to talking to them in the future.
I have found a language expert Professor David Crystal. His email is davidcrystal1@googlemail.com, and he seems like nice man, so I will be emailing him to see whether he would like to appear in our documentary, depending on his schedule and where he is in the country. In the mean time, here is what he has said on the word Chav :
"Chav. It came to the fore as a word in 2005 really, I didn't remember hearing it much before that. It refers to a type of youth, supposedly uncultured, maybe a bit anti-social, perhaps even violent, but certainly marked out, at least from the point of view of the critic, by very bad taste. Chavs are supposed to wear a lot of flashy jewellery, white trainers, baseball caps, sham designer clothes. Girls expose a lot of midriff. Nothing racial about it all, I should say.
Now, whether it's cool or not to be a chav, I couldn't say - at least, not at my age! I find the linguistics much more interesting. It's a problem though, the linguistics. Where does the word come from? It's been around since the 19th century. Lexicographer Eric Partridge mentions it in his huge dictionary of slang and unconventional English. He talks about it coming from Romany (the language of the gypsies), 'chavy' - a child, or 'chaval' - a boy. And then later it was used for 'men' as well.
But nobody knows who's reactivated it in recent times. It's a noun, 'a chav', 'chavs', and also an adjective - people talk about 'chav behaviour' or 'chav insults' and that sort of thing. Oh, don't believe the popular etymologies that you read sometimes in the press and on websites. I saw one the other day, people said, 'It's an acronym, 'chav', from council house and violent' - well, no, it isn't, that was made up in recent times. Appealing as these etymologies are, they're nothing to do with the real Romany history of this very interesting word."
He also talked about hoodies a few years ago:
"There was a newspaper headline in the middle of last year, 'Hoodie Hoodlums' it said. It referred to people who were going around looking like gangs wearing hooded tops, baseball caps, clothing which deliberately obscured the face, suggesting that the wearer might be a danger to the public, so much so that baseball caps and hooded tops were actually banned in 2005 at one shopping mall in Britain. Well, as you might expect, it caused a huge reaction. I mean, youngsters complaining of being stereotyped just because of a few nasty people.
The linguistics isn't so controversial. The spelling first of all, 'hoody', or 'hoodie', and more often with the 'ie' than not. And that's because it's the usual familiarity marker that you get on lots of words in English, words like, sweetie, auntie, goalie (goal keeper), daddie and mummie, and of course in names too, Susie (Susan).
Well, will it catch on? I think so, judging by the huge sales of hoodies now. And also, it's achieved a kind of presence in popular music. There was a single released towards the end of 2005 by Lady Sovereign, it was actually called 'Hoodie'. And then on the web the other day, I was looking at iPods, and the latest accessory to keep your iPod clothed - what do you think it's called? An iPod hoodie! "
I have now sent Bluewater four emails, and have still not had a reply, I sent one to the manager today, so hopefully I will get an answer one way or another soon!
I have also managed to gather all the archive footage I think we will like to use, and have started to edit bits and pieces together in Final Cut Pro, so I think our documentary is now off the ground and on it's way!!!
Now onto ASDA!
I am trying to uncover the true origin of the word Chav, it's place in the English language and the Oxford Dictionary. It would seem Jo has excitingly found someone form The University of Kent, that has written a lot on the word, and are looking forward to talking to them in the future.
I have found a language expert Professor David Crystal. His email is davidcrystal1@googlemail.com, and he seems like nice man, so I will be emailing him to see whether he would like to appear in our documentary, depending on his schedule and where he is in the country. In the mean time, here is what he has said on the word Chav :
"Chav. It came to the fore as a word in 2005 really, I didn't remember hearing it much before that. It refers to a type of youth, supposedly uncultured, maybe a bit anti-social, perhaps even violent, but certainly marked out, at least from the point of view of the critic, by very bad taste. Chavs are supposed to wear a lot of flashy jewellery, white trainers, baseball caps, sham designer clothes. Girls expose a lot of midriff. Nothing racial about it all, I should say.
Now, whether it's cool or not to be a chav, I couldn't say - at least, not at my age! I find the linguistics much more interesting. It's a problem though, the linguistics. Where does the word come from? It's been around since the 19th century. Lexicographer Eric Partridge mentions it in his huge dictionary of slang and unconventional English. He talks about it coming from Romany (the language of the gypsies), 'chavy' - a child, or 'chaval' - a boy. And then later it was used for 'men' as well.
But nobody knows who's reactivated it in recent times. It's a noun, 'a chav', 'chavs', and also an adjective - people talk about 'chav behaviour' or 'chav insults' and that sort of thing. Oh, don't believe the popular etymologies that you read sometimes in the press and on websites. I saw one the other day, people said, 'It's an acronym, 'chav', from council house and violent' - well, no, it isn't, that was made up in recent times. Appealing as these etymologies are, they're nothing to do with the real Romany history of this very interesting word."
He also talked about hoodies a few years ago:
"There was a newspaper headline in the middle of last year, 'Hoodie Hoodlums' it said. It referred to people who were going around looking like gangs wearing hooded tops, baseball caps, clothing which deliberately obscured the face, suggesting that the wearer might be a danger to the public, so much so that baseball caps and hooded tops were actually banned in 2005 at one shopping mall in Britain. Well, as you might expect, it caused a huge reaction. I mean, youngsters complaining of being stereotyped just because of a few nasty people.
The linguistics isn't so controversial. The spelling first of all, 'hoody', or 'hoodie', and more often with the 'ie' than not. And that's because it's the usual familiarity marker that you get on lots of words in English, words like, sweetie, auntie, goalie (goal keeper), daddie and mummie, and of course in names too, Susie (Susan).
Well, will it catch on? I think so, judging by the huge sales of hoodies now. And also, it's achieved a kind of presence in popular music. There was a single released towards the end of 2005 by Lady Sovereign, it was actually called 'Hoodie'. And then on the web the other day, I was looking at iPods, and the latest accessory to keep your iPod clothed - what do you think it's called? An iPod hoodie! "
I have now sent Bluewater four emails, and have still not had a reply, I sent one to the manager today, so hopefully I will get an answer one way or another soon!
I have also managed to gather all the archive footage I think we will like to use, and have started to edit bits and pieces together in Final Cut Pro, so I think our documentary is now off the ground and on it's way!!!
Now onto ASDA!
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