Spide
Encyclopedia
A spide is a pejorative stereotype
Stereotype
A stereotype is a popular belief about specific social groups or types of individuals. The concepts of "stereotype" and "prejudice" are often confused with many other different meanings...

, in Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...

, especially in Belfast
Belfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...

, of a person who has a particular dress code and attitude. Spides are often young, unemployed, male adults. The term predates "chav
Chav
A chav is a term that is used in the United Kingdom to describe a stereotype of teenagers and young adults from an underclass background.-Etymology:...

" (originally slang from south-east England, now widespread in the UK media) by at least a decade, and while the description is similar, it is not identical. The female version of spide is "millie", this name is decades old and is a reference to girls who used to work in the Belfast mills but now refers only to the spide counterparts. Many negative perceptions are associated with the stereotype. These include allegations that they engage in anti-social
Anti-Social Behaviour Order
An Anti-Social Behaviour Order or ASBO is a civil order made against a person who has been shown, on the balance of evidence, to have engaged in anti-social behaviour. The orders, introduced in the United Kingdom by Prime Minister Tony Blair in 1998, were designed to correct minor incidents that...

 behaviour, joyride, and often consume alcohol and/or drugs underage. They are also often seen as boy racer
Boy racer
Boy racers refer to people, usually males in their late teens or early twenties, who "cruise" around in vehicles modified with loud exhausts and stereos, or modified body kits. This behavior is frowned upon by members of the public irritated by the noise and the criminal behavior associated with...

s, who loiter in car parks and public places playing music loudly from modified cars with up-rated hi-fis.

Other slang terms for "spides" include "smicks", "mokes", "steeks" and "jhants" The use of these terms often depends on the town, city or county within Northern Ireland.

Description

Spides dress very similarly to their Chav counterparts in England; many wear fleeces and polyester jackets from designer outdoor sporting brands such as Berghaus
Berghaus
Berghaus Limited is an outdoor clothing and equipment manufacturer headquartered in Sunderland, Tyne & Wear, England. It is based in the North East of England but distributes worldwide. It was founded in 1966 by climbers and mountaineers Peter Lockey and Gordon Davison, initially as an importer and...

, Bench., Henri Lloyd
Henri Lloyd
Henri Lloyd is a British clothing manufacturer established in Manchester, England in 1963, that specialises in making clothes for sailing, yachting and golfing.-Company Information:...

 and Helly Hansen
Helly Hansen
Helly Hansen is a high-end producer of textiles and special gear for sports and work on the ocean and in the mountains, headquartered in Oslo, Norway .Today, the brand is recognized for its foul-weather fishing gear and can be seen both on television and...

, large amounts of jewellery (mostly consisting of necklaces, sovereign rings and loose fitting bracelets and watches), tracksuits (often worn with sleeves rolled up), white or black trainers (often Nike Air Max
Nike Air Max
Nike Air Max is a line of shoes first released by Nike, Inc. in 1987. Since its introduction, Nike has frequently introduced new and updated models in the same product line.-Overview:...

 BWs or TNs) and baseball caps tilted at a 40 degree angle with tight beaks. Many sport thin, unformed mustasches which are often jokingly referred to as "barcodes", and have "Short back and sides", "Mullet" or "Skinhead" hairstyles, often stylised with stripes and/or Swoosh
Swoosh
Swoosh is the symbol of the athletic shoe and clothing manufacturer Nike. It is among the most easily recognized brand logos in the world.-History:...

es. Their preferred music is often Trance
Trance music
Trance is a genre of electronic dance music that developed in the 1990s.:251 It is generally characterized by a tempo of between 125 and 150 bpm,:252 repeating melodic synthesizer phrases, and a musical form that builds up and breaks down throughout a track...

, Techno
Techno
Techno is a form of electronic dance music that emerged in Detroit, Michigan in the United States during the mid to late 1980s. The first recorded use of the word techno, in reference to a genre of music, was in 1988...

, Hard House
UK Hard house
UK Hard House or simply Hard House is a style of Hard Dance music that emerged in the 1990s.-Sound:Proper hard house is typified by a set formula of up-tempo house music compressed kick drums, signature style off-beat basslines and the use of 'hoover' type sounds...

 and Bouncy House
Bouncy techno
Bouncy Techno is a rave hardcore dance music subgenre that was developed in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands...

.

Dialect

Spides are known for having thick Belfast
Belfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...

 accents. They often tut between sentences, and put emphasis into pronouncing words. Common words include "lawd (lad)", "fawkin' (fucking)" and "like".

Origin of the name

The name is thought to have originated in the late 1970s and early 1980s. During this time "tartan gangs" were popular in Belfast. Due to the tartan
Tartan
Tartan is a pattern consisting of criss-crossed horizontal and vertical bands in multiple colours. Tartans originated in woven wool, but now they are made in many other materials. Tartan is particularly associated with Scotland. Scottish kilts almost always have tartan patterns...

 patterns of their jeans, they gained the nickname "spidermen", later shortened to "spide". While the tartan gangs of the time were closely associated with the Loyalist groupings of the Ulster Defence Association
Ulster Defence Association
The Ulster Defence Association is the largest although not the deadliest loyalist paramilitary and vigilante group in Northern Ireland. It was formed in September 1971 and undertook a campaign of almost twenty-four years during "The Troubles"...

 (UDA) and Ulster Young Militants
Ulster Young Militants
The Ulster Young Militants are considered to be the youth wing of the Ulster Defence Association, a loyalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland. Commonly known as the Young Militants or UYM, the group formed in 1974 when the Troubles were at their height...

 (UYM), the term spide is applied to youths from both the loyalist and republican communities, and appears to be wholly without sectarian
Sectarianism
Sectarianism, according to one definition, is bigotry, discrimination or hatred arising from attaching importance to perceived differences between subdivisions within a group, such as between different denominations of a religion, class, regional or factions of a political movement.The ideological...

 bias. Spides may support the paramilitary organisations of their background, such as the UDA
Ulster Defence Association
The Ulster Defence Association is the largest although not the deadliest loyalist paramilitary and vigilante group in Northern Ireland. It was formed in September 1971 and undertook a campaign of almost twenty-four years during "The Troubles"...

 or IRA
Provisional Irish Republican Army
The Provisional Irish Republican Army is an Irish republican paramilitary organisation whose aim was to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and bring about a socialist republic within a united Ireland by force of arms and political persuasion...

.

The name may also have originated as a reference to elbow or neck spider web
Spider web
A spider web, spiderweb, spider's web or cobweb is a device built by a spider out of proteinaceous spider silk extruded from its spinnerets....

 tattoos before it gradually gained a more general meaning to cover young people from working class areas.

See also

  • Ah beng
    Ah Beng
    Ah Beng, from , is a stereotype applied to a certain group of young Chinese men in Southeast Asia, particularly Singapore and Malaysia. The stereotypical view of an Ah Beng is a young Chinese man or teenager who lacks cultural refinement or indulges in criminal activity or is involved in brawls or...

     (Singapore
    Singapore
    Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

    /Malaysia)
  • Arsim (Israel
    Israel
    The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

    )
  • Bogan
    Bogan
    The term bogan is Australian slang, usually pejorative or self-deprecating, for an individual who is recognised to be from a lower class background or someone whose limited education, speech, clothing, attitude and behaviour exemplifies such a background....

     and Hoon
    Hoon
    Hoon is a derogatory term used in Australia and New Zealand, to refer to a anyone who engages in loutish, antisocial behaviour. In particular, it is used to refer to one who drives a car or boat in a manner which is anti-social by the standards of contemporary society, that is, fast, noisily and/or...

     (Australia
    Australia
    Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

     and New Zealand
    New Zealand
    New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

    )
  • Chav
    Chav
    A chav is a term that is used in the United Kingdom to describe a stereotype of teenagers and young adults from an underclass background.-Etymology:...

     (England
    England
    England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

    )
  • Dres (Poland
    Poland
    Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

    )
  • Gopnik
    Gopnik
    Gopnik is a stereotypical class of young males up to 30 years old found in Russia and post-Soviet countries, similar to a Chav or Ned in Great Britain, characterized by aggressive behavior, specifically towards the weak, predilection to the criminal subculture, abuse of alcohol beverages and...

     (Russia
    Russia
    Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

    )
  • Naco
    Naco (slang)
    Naco is a pejorative word often used in Mexican Spanish to describe the bad-mannered and poorly educated people of lower social classes. It is equivalent to 'white trash' in American English and culture...

     (Mexico
    Mexico
    The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

    )
  • Ned
    Ned (Scottish)
    Ned is a derogatory term applied in Scotland to hooligans, louts or petty criminals, latterly with the stereotypical implication that they wear casual sports clothes. Such usage in Glasgow dates back to the 1960s or earlier.-Early use of term:...

     in Scotland
    Scotland
    Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

  • Skanger (Ireland
    Ireland
    Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

    )
  • White Trash
    White trash
    White trash is an American English pejorative term referring to poor white people in the United States, suggesting lower social class and degraded living standards...

     (United States
    United States
    The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

    )
  • Cigany (Hungary
    Hungary
    Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...

    )
  • Boy racer
    Boy racer
    Boy racers refer to people, usually males in their late teens or early twenties, who "cruise" around in vehicles modified with loud exhausts and stereos, or modified body kits. This behavior is frowned upon by members of the public irritated by the noise and the criminal behavior associated with...

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