Chavs, Pikeys, and Other Words

Looking for the source of the word "chav" brought me (as some of you are aware) to this site. Hours of time-wasting fun to be had.

This, for example.

For the benefit of those not subscribed to the Other Place, Chav is, as I thought, believed to be a Romany word meaning child.. The same article ascribes "pikey" to "turnpike [traveller]" which rather puts a spike in the wheels of the argument that unlike abuse against mere "travellers" (not an ethnic group) it could give rise to legal action on race relations grounds. The idea was that it was thought to refer to Irish tinkers specifically (see a row around this time last year about a particularly appalling Sussex bonfire where a caravan containing effigies and with the numberplate P1KEY was ceremonially burnt - lovely quaint traditions).