this post was submitted on 07 Nov 2025
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Showerthoughts
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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The most popular seem to be lighthearted clever little truths, hidden in daily life.
Here are some examples to inspire your own showerthoughts:
- Both “200” and “160” are 2 minutes in microwave math
- When you’re a kid, you don’t realize you’re also watching your mom and dad grow up.
- More dreams have been destroyed by alarm clocks than anything else
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- All posts must be showerthoughts
- The entire showerthought must be in the title
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- If your topic is in a grey area, please phrase it to emphasize the fascinating aspects, not the dramatic aspects. You can do this by avoiding overly politicized terms such as "capitalism" and "communism". If you must make comparisons, you can say something is different without saying something is better/worse.
- A good place for politics is c/politicaldiscussion
- Posts must be original/unique
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No... that culture of violence was very very real. The stories may sound ridiculous, but that's just because of how extreme that culture was.
Dirty tricks, MI6!
I'm not saying that violent people don't exist. I was saying Chavs don't exist. Chav is a very derogatory synonym for a working class person and the middle and upper class people made Chavs up to paint the entire working class as violent and animalistic. The media made it sound like these mythical "Chavs" were everywhere and swarmed on people like hungry piranhas. I'd expect that to show up in violence statistics.
Much to the contrary, the rate of violence was sharply dropping around the same time "Chavs" were invented by the media. Doesn't that seem a little weird to you?
collapsed inline media
Chav is not a term to describe a working class person - it's a term to describe a subset of youths who are pretty much feral.
By feral I mean aggressive and "antisocial" in the "are you looking at me pal" kind of response to eye contact. In essence, a youth whose primary strategy is to escalate to conflict by the shortest possible route in the hopes of winning status.
What that has to do with coming from an honest working family is beyond me!
Hey, ignorant Yank here, and I'd like some clarification. Is chav the bri'ish version of redneck?
I'm not from the USA so I don't really have a clear idea on what a redneck is.
However, going from media representations (dodgy ground) I'd say no. There isn't the strong streak of racism, and the demographic is uniquely young for chavs (since most grow out of it).
Fair enough. The racism isn't a necessary component to being a redneck but it is fairly prevalent. Rednecks don't outgrow it typically either. Thanks for the straight reply.
i don't know much about usa subcultures either but it might be somewhat similar to guidos? i'm not sure how well they are known for antisocial behaviour. the closest international comparison i can think of is russian gopniks
No Not even close
This isn't true. It was always a word that middle class and upper class people used to sneer at and demonize the working class.
Reply to edited chart - violence against adult was not as common. Violence against other kids however...
Also, 1995--2002 was peak chav ;)
In my experience, Chav has never been used to describe a normal working class person. In Northern Ireland, we had our own variant "Spide" or "Smick" which were generally more tame. Less burberry more tracksuits