Origins of the word Chav.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chav This has an etymology section. Although a few years ago I had a pink phone and a few teachers called me Miss Chavin (??) because they were hilariously funny people and said that the full term is 'chavin'...though that's not what it says on Wikipedia.

As far as I am aware the word ,as 'Chavvy', is Romany in origin and means child.

Gaijo is the Romany for us non-Romanies BTW.

Council House and Violent is just something that's been thought up later. It does come from the gypsy word chavvy, meaning child. Many of the estates in the South have large gypsy ancestory, this comes from re-housing them after the war, so worsd like chavvy and mush have become part of the dialect. Youngsters would call each other chavvy or chav much like alright mate. When chav first started being bandied about it was much to do with the way they dressed, burberry tops, rockport boots and thick gold chains, especially the gold chains. I don't know about Gaijo Ewan, is it pronounced Gorgy? Which is the term for non-Roma. Craig

Good Luck Styx Craig

Good luck indeed sir. A whole year in rehab? That's a serious session!

it is indeed styx, but we got what you meant, unless you were implying we're all out of date! not being nosey but where you of to for a year, is it a Pheonix project? Again best of luck. Craig

I thought it was accepted that chav was a term created by girls at Cheltenham Ladies College referring to the local talent as CHeltenham AVerage. Did I ever tell you about the time I got down to the last two when they were recruiting a new Finance Director at the Ladies College? It's probably a good job I lost out. As my mate said, I wouldn't have lasted three weeks.

maybe it was accepted as a desperate grasp by the middle classes to have coined a phrase. I even heard it was a description from the late 1800's to describe a dandy. But rest assured, it defo comes from the gypsy term for kids, it was fostered, as I said earlier, from a term of greeting, ie 'alright chav', which slipped into mainstream. The coincidence is too great. Craig

yes, i am not certain of the pronunciation of gaijo Craig but gorgy sounds likely... as many of the romany words are more like transliterations than phonetic renditions Ewan

It sounds very serene, best of luck anyway. I went to a party just outside Stroud years ago, must have been about 1990/91 big disused B&Q, one of the best do's I went to. best bet for an exorcist is a video library. Craig

I think it depends which kind of demons you want to exorcise. They come in different denominations.

My friend is from Borstal (in Kent), and she says Chav comes from the next town over, Chatham.

i did read an article recently in the guardian, a group of young gypsies have set up an internet forum in an attempt to reclaim the word chav as their own, fighting a losing battle imo.

Something notable of the South east, esp the South East of London is a lot of gypsies were settled in the area after the war. Places like Mitcham, Lewisham and Catford. I agree about the accent. Mind you the Janners do the same, they just have a slight country burr with it. Craig