Yobbo
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Yobbo or yob is a slang term for an uncouth or thuggish working-class person. The word derives from a back slang reading of the word "boy" (boy or boyo reversed becomes yob or — slightly modified — yobbo).
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[edit] Britain
Dr. C. T. Onions, an editor of the Oxford English Dictionary, seems not to have noticed the word before he published the XYZ section of the dictionary in 1921, but later supplement notes the use of 'yob' as meaning 'boy' in the working-class youth context, from 1859. This implies that the word had by that stage come out from the back slang argot into ordinary English usage. In the dictionary supplement's references, it is possible to detect a slow drift in the word's meaning, towards the 'Ruffian' interpretation, the new emphasis becoming clear from about 1927.[citation needed]
'Yobbo' appears from 1922 onwards; originally its meaning did not clearly emphasise the ruffian. Its meaning drifted clearly towards the 'ruffian' interpretation by 1956, though an article from 1938 calls a yobbo a 'Street Rough'.[citation needed]
In Britain today this word is sometimes superseded by the newer term "chav".
It is not unknown for a girl or woman to be described as a yob by the British media.[1]
Some have seen the term used in Norfolk Island papers and material published on the Internet, usually in reference to infer an inferior class of people.[citation needed]
[edit] Australia
The term is also prevalent in Australian English, however the meaning is subtly different. Whereas the British version of a yobbo is thuggish working class person, the Australian definition refers more to a lower class person who wears attire such as flannelette shirts and thongs, and is usually unemployed and living off welfare benefits.[2] "Yobbos" in the Australian sense of the word also usually use a lot of common Australian slang terms in their vocabulary. Just as yobbo in the UK has been increasingly replaced with the term Chav, in Australia the term has been increasingly replaced by the term bogan.
[edit] Korea
Yobbo is used as a term of endearment in Korea. It means "darling" or "honey".
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Burchfield, R.W. ed. The Oxford English Dictionary. (1987) ISBN 0-19-861211-7
- http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/yob
