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Jed Dilligan Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jul-09-07 11:30 PM
Original message
Poll question: Which Anglicism should Americans adopt?
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LeftyMom Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jul-09-07 11:32 PM
Response to Original message
1. chav
It's such a perfect description of the family around the corner from me.
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Critters2 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jul-09-07 11:33 PM
Response to Reply #1
2. I don't even know what it means.
Edited on Mon Jul-09-07 11:34 PM by mycritters2
So, explain it to me or sod off!! :)
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Jed Dilligan Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jul-09-07 11:36 PM
Response to Reply #2
4. No one can explain it better
Than the two lovely birds in this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdNfFwi3YLU
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Jed Dilligan Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jul-09-07 11:35 PM
Response to Reply #1
3. And it lacks the racist derivation of "wigger".
At least as far as I know... What is the etymology of chav?
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muriel_volestrangler Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-10-07 05:22 AM
Response to Reply #3
7. Good question - and it may possibly be racist in origin
The OED weighs in:

In Britain there are many words to describe people from this social group, and they are often limited to a particular town or region. Other words with a similar meaning to chav are townie, scally, ned and charver. The word chav has become common in southern England, and is generally thought to come from Chatham girls (Chatham is a town in Kent.) Some people think, however, that the word comes originally from the Romany word chavo (boy), which is also the origin of the Spanish word chaval.

http://www.oup.com/elt/catalogue/teachersites/oald7/wotm/wotm_archive/chav?cc=gb


There is the possibility is was used as a derogatory word in southern England for Romany boys (ie gypsies). Certainly the use is far wider now.
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T_i_B Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-10-07 06:55 AM
Response to Reply #7
9. The derogatory term for Gypsies is actually "pikey"
Which in turn tends to be used as a slur not just towards travellers but also to anyone short on money.

And one thing I must add is that "pikey" is a word I never hear up north. The usual insult on those lines I hear from people when I'm back up in Yorkshire is "Gyppo". "Chav" on the other hand is a word that's gone nationwide.
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muriel_volestrangler Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-10-07 07:08 AM
Response to Reply #9
11. Yeah, but it's not as if we Brits restrict ourselves to one derogatory term, is it?
Certainly by the time it became generally known, 'chav' was applied to anyone young and urban who might be insulted as "white trash" in the US.
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T_i_B Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-10-07 12:36 PM
Response to Reply #11
28. There is a slight difference
"Pikey" is generally used to denote someone who lives in a caravan and "chav" is generally not. Pikey has more connocations with gypsies, poverty and crime (I can think of one person I know who refers to anything that's been nicked as being "pikeyed") them the word "chav" does.

The two do overlap slightly as insults, but then again the word "chav" overlaps with a lot of local insults. Back when I was growing up the term used was "townie" for instance.
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TheBaldyMan Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-10-07 08:34 AM
Response to Reply #9
18. there are a great many derogatory terms for gypsies - including gypsy!
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T_i_B Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-10-07 06:51 AM
Response to Reply #1
8. This website explains it best
http://www.chavscum.co.uk/
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otherlander Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jul-09-07 11:37 PM
Response to Original message
5. Using the word "bloody" as a curse
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Jed Dilligan Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jul-09-07 11:41 PM
Response to Reply #5
6. Did you know
it was originally an abbreviation of "by our lady," hence the curse-ness of it? The identical word "bloody," meaning covered or otherwise replete with blood, has never been a profanity.
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Rabrrrrrr Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-10-07 06:56 AM
Response to Original message
10. chav and shag
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CBHagman Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-10-07 09:00 AM
Response to Reply #10
21. But not in the Carolinas.
In South Carolina,"Tony and I shagged all night" is a perfectly innocent sentence.

http://oldies.about.com/od/soulmotown/f/shaghistory.htm
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HiFructosePronSyrup Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-10-07 12:38 PM
Response to Reply #21
29. Oh yeah.
I still remember when that British travel show wound up in the Carolinas and found themselves in a senior citizens shag off.
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CBHagman Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-10-07 01:26 PM
Response to Reply #29
30. LOL!
The mind reels at what images they all had in their minds. :rofl:
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datasuspect Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-10-07 07:10 AM
Response to Original message
12. init?
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MorningGlow Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-10-07 07:17 AM
Response to Original message
13. Snog
"Making out" just doesn't have the same...panache!
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LostinVA Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-10-07 07:30 AM
Response to Original message
14. "Peckish" -- I say that all the time
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kwassa Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-10-07 07:47 AM
Response to Original message
15. wanker
certainly are enough of them around
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TheBaldyMan Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-10-07 08:32 AM
Response to Original message
16. other: proper spelling - there is a 'u' in armour AND labour
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JustABozoOnThisBus Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-10-07 12:15 PM
Response to Reply #16
27. What? You want us to spell like Canadians???
Next you'll want us to add an extra "i" as in "aluminium".

:rofl:
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WinkyDink Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-10-07 08:33 AM
Response to Original message
17. I like "one-off".
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formerrepuke Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-10-07 08:37 AM
Response to Original message
19. What are 'slapper' and 'mingy'?.....Anyone?
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Jed Dilligan Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-10-07 09:49 AM
Response to Reply #19
22. They both refer to unattractive females
"Slapper" is more about loose morals, and "mingy" more about bad looks. I think. All this is gleaned from renting BBC shows and should not be taken very seriously.
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muriel_volestrangler Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-10-07 12:11 PM
Response to Reply #22
26. The normal use is
"minging". "Mingy" would normally be pronounced "minjee", meaning mean, stingy (its possible derivation, according to a dictionary).

"minging" starts off meaning "smelly" (there's a verb 'to ming' - your socks might ming, or you could say "it mings in here"), and from there has become 'unattractive' generally.
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Gormy Cuss Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-10-07 08:45 AM
Response to Original message
20. Bollocks.
Although among the poll items "sod off" is my personal favorite.
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Jed Dilligan Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-10-07 09:50 AM
Response to Reply #20
23. Bollocks, peckish, wanker
I think I'll have to do this like the photo contests.
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xchrom Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-10-07 09:51 AM
Response to Original message
24. yeah -- i had to go with sod off.
sod off!
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Rambis Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-10-07 09:53 AM
Response to Original message
25. other: Langered
pissed as a nute, shit faced, drunk etc.
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SteppingRazor Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-10-07 01:41 PM
Response to Reply #25
32. I always thought that was "lagered"...
coming from having one too many lagers. :shrug:
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YankeyMCC Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-10-07 01:32 PM
Response to Original message
31. 'Bob's your unlcle' nt
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hyphenate Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-10-07 01:48 PM
Response to Original message
33. Personally I prefer
chuffed (or chuft?)

gobsmacked

and a really fun one, twee. :)
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Crabby Appleton Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-10-07 02:27 PM
Response to Original message
34. where's wanker and "tossing off" ?
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Magrittes Pipe Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-10-07 02:32 PM
Response to Original message
35. Opressing the Irish.
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