Talk:chewie

RFV discussion: September–October 2020

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chewie

"(Australia, Britain, informal) chewing gum". This is an unusual RFV because I know it's correct for Australia but I dispute that this word is used in Britain. Look at this reversion [1] and this mini-discussion [2]. So, I'm not challenging the sense as a whole, but I am asking that we either find proof that it's used in British English, or else remove that British gloss. Equinox ◑ 10:21, 24 September 2020 (UTC)

I've found these examples of British people using the word:

• 2000 July 10, Amy Reiter, “Lennox Lewis: 'I am not gay'”, in Salon‎^[3]:

  Sporty Spice Mel C has seen fit to tell the world that her ex-bandmate Geri Halliwell had a touch of the halitosis [...] "Whenever that occasion arose with one of the members of the band, we used to say, 'Does anyone want some chewie?'"

• 2006 November 1, Zoe Williams, “Why aren't we buying gum?”, in The Guardian‎^[4]:

  And yet, chewie occupies an ambiguous place in the national psyche that might account for the slump.

• 2017 April 13, Jon Hornbuckle, “Charlotte Crosby reveals moment Stephen Bear got down on one knee at the Sydney Harbour Bridge – but then handed her a chewing gum”, in The Sun‎^[5]:

  Speaking on her Snapchat channel, Charlotte told her fans: “Stephen thinks it’s funny to get down on one knee in the middle of Sydney Harbour. ¶ “Everyone is staring, I think he is going to propose and all he does is hand us a chewie.”

• 2019 June 23, Emilia Bona, “21 things you only know if you've been on a night out in Liverpool”, in Liverpool Echo‎^[6]:

  16. You've got a bag full of Chupa Chups and chewie because you thought the toilet attendant was your best mate

They were hard to find as written evidence is fairly scant. However, according to this dialect study by the University of Manchester, about 12% of British people use it and "there are clear clusters of chewy around Merseyside and Middlesbrough". Ajmint (talk) 11:58, 24 September 2020 (UTC)

Also I would add that Oxford Dictionaries/Lexico define chewy as "[informal British] Chewing gum." Ajmint (talk) 12:16, 24 September 2020 (UTC)

@Ajmint: How do you know that those authors are British people, and not (say) Aussies writing about Britain? In particular "21 things you only know if you've been on a night out in Liverpool" suggests a tourist or travelogue author. Another one refers to Sydney Harbour! @Kiwima: Please reconsider your RFV-passed in light of my comments. Equinox ◑ 05:36, 13 October 2020 (UTC)

@Equinox: She may have been in Sydney at the time, but Charlotte Crosby is from England. —Mahāgaja · talk 07:52, 13 October 2020 (UTC)

Thanks. It's still someone who spent time in Australia and may well have picked up the local lingo. Equinox ◑ 08:54, 13 October 2020 (UTC)

RFV-passed Kiwima (talk) 21:51, 3 October 2020 (UTC)