this post was submitted on 03 Sep 2025
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Please know that when I say chav, I'm not saying it in a derogatory way, I mean it in the same way I mean "goth", "punk", etc and I come from both the same background and same town as them. The nicest interactions I've ever had with strangers all involved people you'd "chavs". When I was in school one of them defended me from bullies, and after that, whenever we crossed paths in the hallway he'd yell "saaafe man!" while reaching out to fist bump me.

Another one a few years ago involved me having my bike lock quite literally crumble as I tried to turn the key to unlock it, so I had my bike stuck locked to a pole. Two men who you'd likely call chavs approached out of nowhere and tried to free my bike, one of them ran all the way home to get cable cutters. 3ish years ago I was feeling pretty down and I think it showed since two men, again who you'd likely call chavs based on their look and how they talked, asked me if I was alright and told me to follow them if I wanted to chat so I did. They were so kind to me and I walked away feeling a lot better.

But I'm supposed to believe these people are "dangerous"? I don't buy that. Where'd that idea come from? Anyone have experiences similar to mine?

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[–] fakeman_pretendname@feddit.uk 2 points 3 days ago

Pretty much all the "etymology is an acronym" things are all fabricated bollocks, spread as a joke, accidentally taken to be true. You get exceptions like "twoc(k)" for nicking cars, but all that "fornication under consent of the king" and "prisoner of mother England" and so on is all a load of shit.

Apparently one of the more likely origins for "chav" is a Romani ("gypsy") word for "child".