council house and violent.

They were made up by the girls at Cheltenham Ladies' College to describe the unexciting local boys: "Cheltenham Average" (CHAV).

Neither are true, though. Folk etymology, I'm afraid.

As Indie says, mere myth. Chav is probably a Romany/Gypsy word.  Certainly, as �chavvy', these people used it to mean �bloke' or �mate' and as 'chavo' for 'boy'. There is even a suggestion that it is related to the ancient Sanskrit word 'sava', meaning 'son'. 

It implied a fellow traveller, so - if a non-traveller used it - it gave the impression he was looking down on the person so addressed.  Nowadays, it seems to refer to anyone, especially a young person, who is considered less intelligent or more obnoxious than the speaker and who tends to exist in a group of people who dress and behave similarly.  It's rather like the �Essex girl' and �medallion man' concepts of a few years ago. Basically, it seems to have transformed from �friend' to �non-friend'!

indiesinger: i can't comprehend why you would dismiss two suggested definitions so *authoritatively* if you weren't positive of the true definition. and if you were, why you didn't offer it. makes no sense at all.

Because I knew the etymology, which Quizmonster has outlined above. I wasn't sure if the origins were being asked - Weeza_cfc was asking if the the fact that Chav is an acronym is true. Which I answered.

I too thought it had been made up by those clever marketing people in the '80's who also came up with yuppies and woopies, and did as mentioned stand for council house and violent. However QM is rarely (actuley never) wrong on these things, so I would trust his answer.

Whats a woopie?

woopie = well off older person

It is short for Chavva, which is another word for rude bois, trendies, townies and other scum of that nature.

Not standing for anything in particular.

Hope this helps!

x Kinky x

for more information check out www.chavscum.co.uk very funny but informative

I heard "council housing associated vermin"

Read somewhere that chav means, Uneducated, Violent, Tasteless and Ignorant.

You call them UVTIs?

Quiz monster is right,

I used to work on a farm in Kent in the 70's and there were a lot of pikies working there and they used to call me Chav and Chavlo. I live in Australia now and when I came back to England for a holiday in June it was funny to hear the kids using the words............when did that all start?

Quizmaster is right,

I worked on a farm in kent in the 70's and there were lots of pikies that worked there (pikies are travellers, not romany gypsies) They used to call me Chav or Chavlo like as if I was their mate. I've lived in Australia now for eight years and it was funny to hear these names used by the kids as terms for each other.