Britain
The XYZ section of the Oxford English Dictionary, published in 1921, does not include the word, but a later supplement notes the use of 'yob' as meaning 'boy' in the working-class youth context, from 1859. 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.
'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'.
In Britain today this word is sometimes superseded by the newer term "chav".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.
Read more about this topic: Yobbo
Famous quotes containing the word britain:
“Hath Britain all the sun that shines? day? night?
Are they not but in Britain?”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“Only in Britain could it be thought a defect to be “too clever by half.” The probability is that too many people are too stupid by three-quarters.”
—John Major (b. 1943)
“I’ th’ world’s volume
Our Britain seems as of it, but not in’ t;
In a great pool a swan’s nest.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)