i understand what a chav is ...but can anyone enlighten me as to where this word to describe them came from......is it an abreviation or what?
or am i being totally dumb and missing something obvious..??
A quick google comes up with the information that it is a shortened form of "chaval", the romany word for boy or man. There's a possible linguistic connection with "chevalier", the french for "gentleman".
Mike.
I was told it originated from Cheltenham Ladies College where the girls used it as not very complimentary shorthand for "Cheltenham Average" to described the local blokes. God knows how it then took off like it did though.
I heard it was used by people in Croydon, or another district of London starting with C as a degoratory term for the locals. It's now just a media buzzword to describe anyone with Burberry clothes or hoop earrings, or even "common people"
