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03 August, 2005

Chavving it up in Dubai

Chavdom has taken firm root in Dubai, according to 7Days. Both male and females chavs wear plenty of jewellery, baseball caps, and "tight hipster jeans, with protruding thongs there for all to admire":

"Arab Chavs tend to have a strong liking for some of Versace’s more garish creations while female Chavs of all nationalities are required to buy all their clothes at least two sizes too small. Chavs will buy their gear from any designer store but a special mention has to go out to the many clothes shops in Karama which offer classic Chav gear for very affordable prices."

The article's definition of chav manages to encompass nearly every single expat below retirement age in Dubai. The men adore car-chase action films, the women romantic comedies. They like either dance music or R&B, watch soaps and reality TV, and regularly request Justin Timberlake or Jennifer Lopez on the radio. They sport mobile phones with irritating ringtones permanently glued to their ears, and they all love drinking:

"A Dubai Chav can be seen in their natural habitat of the nightclub on practically any night of the week. Carters on a Sunday, Scarlett’s on a Tuesday, Mix/Trilogy/Peppermint on the weekend, and of course if you’re an Arab Chav, then Sho Cho on any night of the week."

There is, very fortunately, no mention of largeing it up at Jebel Ali Cloob. Cell Block G inmates breathe an aristocratic sigh of relief, quietly burying any fake gold jewellery and romantic DVDs in the sand outside the verandah.

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6 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Sounds like the ugly American prototype, actually, with a hint of Arabian-ness thrown in. Goodbye sophistication, hello tackyorld!

04 August, 2005 02:17  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I love the anonymous spam! Yea! Secret Dubai, with all the recent publicity you've now hit the big time: you're being spammed by idiots!

04 August, 2005 05:26  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

absolutely chavulous! This place is chav city alright - Tiffany bracelets, gold, LV hats. But why oh why would anyone buy a fake Von Dutch t-shirt is beyond me! Now that is the pinnacle of chavdom!

04 August, 2005 10:00  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

the sportswear look and phenomenon of the chav is nothing new - it harks back to the classist english term "townie", or scots version "ned", referring to lower-class, sometimes nouveau riche louts, perhaps causing trouble in town on the weekend, maybe having a pop at "invading" students etc. so how does that translate into dubai's social make-up? best for people to draw their own conclusions...

04 August, 2005 10:38  
Blogger SD said...

Interesting that twisted.ae says they look like caricatures of their western versions, these Arab chavs. Last week in London, I noticed some English chavs kicking about the streets, and thought to myself, "They're caricatures of American hip-hop culture," thinking that they must see a lot of American pop propaganda and imitate it to the best of their ability.

I can only imagine the weirdness of a caricature of a caricature of riduculous American urbanites.

05 August, 2005 03:06  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

posers..that's all u are posers..let the kids alone...they're just having fun.

05 August, 2005 05:02  

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