Yob (slang)

Yob is slang in the United Kingdom for a loutish, uncultured person.^[1][2] In Australia, 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

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.

"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 Private Eye by Tony Husband from the 1980s to 2023.^[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

• Anti-social behaviour order
• Bogan
• Chav
• Feral (subculture)
• Hooliganism
• Lad culture
• Millwall brick
• Ned
• Pikey
• Tapori
• Yokel

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