AT one time in this country, not too long ago, it was permissible to 'call a spade a spade', ie speak one's mind.
That didn't mean gratuitously offensive remarks were encouraged but, by and large, people could still get their views across without being accused of this '-obia' or that '-ism.'
Now we are so strangled by political correctness that it is sometimes hard to discover what anyone really feels about anything.
The latest step into this Alice in Wonderland world has been taken by The Fabian Society, which is calling for a legal ban on the word 'chav'.
Needless to say, this is a word I often use and I'm going to start using it even more as a result of the Society's campaign.
Chav ! Chav ! (Oops, they just slipped out)
According to the potty left-wing Fabian Society, use of the word 'is middle-class hatred of the white working class, pure and simple.'
No, it isn't.
It's a hatred of chavs. (Chav ! Chav ! Whoops)
As someone who originally hails from a council estate, I suppose myself and my entire family could have been classed as chavs at one time - that is, if you go along with the Society's definition.
But that's my point.
I don't think the word chav refers to the working class at all.
Chavs don't work.
Chavs don't have any class.
Chavs are the sort of thick, ignorant slobs of either sex whose ambitions never rise above getting their dole cheques and whose idea of a day well spent is sitting outside a pub swapping swear words with the other chavs.
I don't think you need to be David Attenborough to spot them.