CHAV 'DEEPLY OFFENSIVE TO VOICELESS GROUP'.

USE of the word "chav" shows a deep hatred of the working class and should be stamped out, according to a left-wing think tank.

Tom Hampson, editorial director of the Fabian Society, argues in a forthcoming article that the word is "sneering and patronising" and more and more widely used.

He has called on broadcasters to take class discrimination seriously, and compared the word to terms of abuse such as "faggot".

In the piece, to be published in the summer Fabian Review, Mr Hampson said: "Some uses of some words fall below the threshold of acceptability and some are definitely above it.

"Chav is way above that threshold. It is deeply offensive to a largely voiceless group and - especially when used in normal middle-class conversation or on national TV - it betrays a deep and revealing level of class hatred."

Laura Midgley, of the Campaign Against Political Correctness, said: "The Fabian Society effectively is taking offence on behalf of everybody who might have been called a 'chav'.

"But they may or may not be offended by it.

"One of the dangers of political correctness is that you don't actually ask the community themselves.

"Being offended on someone else's behalf is a dangerous concept."

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word chav refers to "a young person of a type characterised by brash and loutish behaviour and the wearing of designer-style clothes (esp sportswear); usually with connotations of a low social status".

Language consultant for Kings College London, Tony Thorne, said the word was originally used by travellers to mean friend.

CAPTION(S):

VOICELESS Matt Lucas as Vicky Pollard in Little Britain.