Yob (slang)
Yob is a slang word used in the United Kingdom. The term denotes a loutish, uncultured person,[1] and is published in dictionaries in the United Kingdom.[2] In Australia and New Zealand, the word yobbo is more frequently used, with a similar although slightly less negative meaning. The American equivalent is "yahoo".
Etymology
The word itself is a product of backslang, a process whereby new words are created by spelling or pronouncing existing words backwards. The word yob is thus derived from the word boy. It only began to acquire a derogatory connotation in the 1930s.[3]
In popular culture
The Yob is the title of a 1988 episode of The Comic Strip Presents..., in which the brain patterns of a pretentious music video director are those of a football hooligan.
Yob is also the title of a 1998 single by TISM, detailing the "ingredients" which go into making up a yob.
The Yobs and The Yobbettes are a cartoon series written for the satirical current affairs magazine Private Eye by Tony Husband since the late 1980s.[4]
See also
- Anti-social behaviour order
- Chav
- Feral (subculture)
- Hooliganism
- Lad culture
- Millwall brick
- Ned
- Pikey
- Tapori
- Yokel
Notes
- ^ "In the dock – 18/03/10". www.lep.co.uk.
- ^ Terry Victor; Tom Dalzell (Nov 27, 2014). The Concise New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English (Google eBook). Routledge. p. 760. ISBN 978-0415212595. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
- ^ Etymology for the word yob at Online Etymology Dictionary
- ^ Mike Storry; Peter Childs (2002). British Cultural Identities. Routledge. p. 19. ISBN 978-0-415-27860-7.
References
- Burchfield, R.W. ed. The Oxford English Dictionary. (1987) ISBN 0-19-861211-7