Lee Bok is not his real name.
In the summer of 2004, most people in the United Kingdom had not heard of the word Chav. By the end of the year it was being used by just about everybody and even made it into prestigious dictionaries.
At Crombie Jardine Publishing we watched as sales of our little book grew and grew. In total we sold over 100,000 copies of The Little Book of Chavs and we reprinted it eight times.
We were also pleased by the response of readers who emailed us with Chav towns that we had omitted and in this updated edition we have tried to put that right. We are sure we have still missed out places, but those of you who took the trouble to email us will be pleased to see your towns added.
Readers who wondered where the word Chav came from also contacted us. Quite a few mentioned Cheltenham Ladies’ College as the source of the word. Wherever the word came from, we now know who and what Chavs are and, whether you love them or hate them, there’s just no ignoring them!
Definitions of Chavs:
•non-educated delinquents
•the burgeoning peasant underclass
Chavs are identifiable by their attitude and clothes. Chavs want money and lots of it, but don’t want to have to work for it.
Jodie Marsh, Jordan (Katie Price) and Tulisa are obvious Chav icons. Reality shows like Big Brother and the Lottery are favourite TV programmes.
Chavs can be found far and wide, across the country, but go by different names depending on the location. In Scotland, on the West Coast, you’ll find Neds (some say this is short for ‘non-educated delinquents’, others say it’s short for Edward, as in teddy-boy). On the East Coast of Scotland they are known as Schemies (as in ‘housing scheme’).
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