Yob (slang)

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Yob is slang in the United Kingdom for a loutish, uncultured person.[1][2] In Australia and New Zealand, the word yobbo is more frequently used, with a similar although slightly less negative meaning.

Etymology[]

The word itself is a product of back slang, 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[]

In the 1961 British neo-noir gangster film "The Frightened City", co-starring Sean Connery, one of the characters mentions "a gang of young yobbos" who have been terrorising local businesses.

In the 1994 film "Michael Collins", Liam Neeson, portraying Michael Collins describes himself in a scene with Alan Rickman (who plays Éamon de Valera) as "A yob from West Cork", when attempting to demur from being sent to the treaty negotiations.

Popular Redlands, California landmark The Tartan created a drink called The Yob which is essentially a Manhattan shot in a 40 oz King Cobra malt liquor served in a paper bag.

"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 transposed with 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]

UK band The Boys rearranged the "B" and the "Y" in their name and became The Yobs, releasing four singles and one album; 1980s Christmas Album. In this incarnation, the band members used the pseudonyms Noddy Oldfield, Ebenezer Polak, Kid Vicious and H. J. Bedwetter.

See also[]

Notes[]

  1. ^ "In the dock – 18/03/10". www.lep.co.uk.
  2. ^ 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.
  3. ^ Etymology for the word yob at Online Etymology Dictionary
  4. ^ 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
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