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Where I grew up, "chav" (or more precisely, "chava") was just another word for man, or guy, used more or less interchangeably with the less well-known "gadgie". So imagine my surprise when the term chav started to creep into the lexicon of the mainstream media: only now it is being used in an altogether less neutral way, to simultaneously denote and denigrate a specific social group.

So what does this mean for our old use of the word "chava" in my native Berwick-upon-Tweed tongue? Can you even still use it in that more general sense of "guy" to refer to, for example, "that chava there"? And is that only because most of the guys from Berwick would also fall into the rest of the country's understanding of what it means to be a chav?

Julie Burchill put it best in her sadly-not-on-YouTube-yet Sky One documentary Chavs, which highlighted the element of social sneering inherent in this recent media appropriation; but to the rap sheet I might be tempted to add a plea to give the good people of Berwick their word back. Only it turns out that it was never actually our word in the first place: "chava" is just one of the many loan words from the Romani language which have been absorbed into our local dialect (this one derived from "chavi", meaning "kid" in the source language).

It seems then that it is down to the UK's Gypsy and Traveller communities to reclaim the term chav, and this is precisely the goal of the new exhibition at the Novas Contemporary Urban Centre - London Bridge Bankside. Running from September 6th through to October 13th, Chavi is a collaboration between three artists from those communities, Damian and Delaine Le Bas and Daniel Baker, who by confronting and subverting stereotypes aim to both re-evaluate and reclaim the representation of the Gypsy within society.

"Chavi, the Romany word for kid, has been recently appropriated as a derogatory label for working class youth style," the website of the Novas Group charity helpfully explains. "Although the look signalled by this label has its origins in a Gypsy aesthetic, these references are usually forgotten, reflecting society’s ongoing denial or ignorance of the Gypsy’s creative influence on wider society."

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Recent headlines about record-breaking art auctions can make the entry level into the world of art collecting seem prohibitively high. But then I landed on Artnet, an online guide to upcoming art auctions complete with many guide prices, and realised that perhaps this isn't necessarily the case when you consider the kind of crap that people would otherwise splash that kind of money on.

Providing the perfect opportunity to make your first forays into the art collecting world is the RCA Secret 2006 exhibition, where hundreds of postcard-sized artworks are sold off for a very reasonable £35 each to raise money for the Royal College of Art Fine Art Student Award Fund. Amongst the postcards are contributions from Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin, David Bailey, Paul Smith, Graham Coxon and John Squire, displayed alongside works from past and present students of the Royal College of Art and other leading art institutions - the artists of the future.

The big twist however is that the identites of all of the artists on display remain a secret until after you have handed over your £35 and made your purchase, at which point the signature on the back of the card is finally revealed. "Choose something because you like it," is the RCA website's best advice to success in this postcard lottery. "Anything else is just a bonus".

Postcards can be viewed at the Royal College of Art from 17th - 24th November between 10am and 6pm (extended to 8pm on the final day), or else online on the RCA website from tomorrow (17th). Purchases can only be made in person on Saturday 25th (between 8am and 8pm) and Sunday 26th November (10am - 4pm), on a strictly first come first served basis and limited to four cards per person.

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We are always on the lookout for something a little different to hang on your wall, so naturally this collection of limited edition artwork by Dutch design collective Machine caught our eye.

Available for a rather reasonable 75 euros from the online incarnation of Amsterdam record shop Rush Hour, these five silk screen prints are limited to just 50 hand-numbered copies worldwide. Shown to the right is the Flowers design, or else choose from the Causing more pain won't end yours mantra (anti-militaristic), the Be Loud order (revolutionary), this Psychedelic Warfare doodle (abstract) or the Power to the Little People number (just plain cute).

The Machine style may already be familiar to you from their work for France's Versatile Records (home of Chateau Flight, I:Cube and Joakim), but failing that, we wish you more luck than we had at gleaning any further information from the rather kooky flash explosion that is their website.

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Amongst the lovingly assembled collection of inspirational figures, stories and photos on the Cowboy Books website you will find this rather trippy series of drawings by an artist under the influence of LSD. In a US government test during the 1950s, the LSD-dosed artist is given free access to a box of pencils and crayons and over a period of eight hours draws a series of nine wildly different pictures of the doctor who is observing him.

The rest of the Cowboy Books is worth a rummage too: an interesting collection of ephemera fronting the publishing operations of site owner Michael J Rowland, who also has three cowboy-related illustrated books to sell to you.

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It is a bit late to be buying Christmas cards, but bookmark Bat Kat Cards now for your next birthday occasion (especially if it happens to be a gay birthday occasion).

In a somewhat bizarre juxtaposition, Bat Kat Cards specialise in birthday cards and stickers of a gay and lesbian persuasion, and also birthday cards and stickers with hamsters on them. Hence the cute-as rainbow flag waving hamster logo.

You've missed the chance to grab those gay christmas cards, but you can still stock up on birthday cards and mix and match rainbow stickers. They've also got in there early with the civil partnership cards and invitations just in time for next year.

Or if you prefer small furry creatures over girls or boys, the cute hamster cards are a must. And the hamster pop art print at the bottom of the Bat Kat Bits section is a snip at just £14.

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The exhibition at The Spitz may have now closed, but head to the Bombsite Boudiccas site for the online version of the 1955 photo essay on London's teddy girls created by Ken Russell during his time as a photography student.

For the teddy girls' much more famous male teddy boy counterparts, the Edwardian-inspired suits became a symbol of teenage rebellion and thuggery: the hoodie of their day. And whilst the hitherto largely overlooked teenage teddy girls also took from the Edwardians' cameo brooches and high collars, their boyish short haircuts, trousers and even jeans set the blueprint for generations of tomboys to follow.

Russell's photos place the young girls (all aged between 14 and 19) against a backdrop of bombsites of wartorn London, but what is also striking is how 'now' some of the girls' self-honed 1950s style now looks: cropped trousers, flat shoes, lace-up espadrilles, clutch bags and the wan faces and jackets of the East End's new legion of Libertines / Pete Doherty fans.

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There is no better time of the year to visit Kew Gardens, but acting as further inducement to drag your ass way out west is the new Gardens of Glass exhibition of glass sculptures by Dale Chiluly.

Plonked amongst plants and water features throughout the gardens, the brightly coloured blobs and spirals of glass add a spark of extra interest for any non-plant fetishists doing a circuit of the gardens. While some plant purists apparently feel the sculptures detract from the natural beauty of the flowers, we reckon they fit in just fine, with the potential to produce some pretty trippy light effects when the sun hits at just the right angle.

Which, along with a host of equally trippy looking plants like the one metre wide giant waterlilies, provides the perfect excuse to take advantage of the magic mushroom law loophole while you still can in the occasionally serene setting of Kew. The gardens' proximity to Heathrow is rather unfortunate, but the new reduced entrance fee of £5 after 4pm is a real deal sweetener.

See you in the giant badger sett!

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The eCard is traditionally a naff and tacky affair, which this particular recipient can rarely be bothered to even pick up. Crappy flash animations and corporate adverts disguised as "freebies" are no acceptable substitute for remembering to post a real birthday card the required time in advance.

The inevitable exception to the rule however are the range of eCards offered on the website of publishing house Taschen, creators of books of pretty pictures which serve as a truly deserving adornment for your coffee table. Plucked from their huge back catalogue of art, design, photography, pop culture, film and sex books, choose from everything from film stills from Fellini to Roger Rabbit, All American adverts to Chinese propaganda posters, and computer generated women to Amazon muscle ladys.

If you have remembered a birthday all too late to get that card in the post, I really think that sending one of Taschen's top quality images might not automatically spell out 'cheapskate' or 'slackass' to the recipient. Well, it is worth a try anyway...

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I stumbled across this online gallery of extreme Islamic art on todays trawl of the internet. The images are hosted by publishing house Dilettante Press, to coincide with the Feral House publication of Adam Parfrey's new book 'Extreme Islam: Anti-American Propaganda Art'.

The collection of essays, poems, interviews and pictures aims to "allow the voices of Islamic militancy to speak for themselves," and to bring the reader that little bit closer to understanding the answer to the inevitable question, 'Why do they hate us?'.

"Reading Extreme Islam is a hard go at times," admits the Dilettante Press review of the book. Seeing this kind of anti-American hatred set down in full colour is indeed a pretty disturbing experience, and it makes a total mockery of the idea of the 'War on Terror' as some kind of final 'solution'.

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The latest wall mounted desirable to catch our eye comes from California's Daniel Peacock, whose limited edition 'Eat' print is available for $300 from the Fine Art Publishing online shop.

Cute, but not in a sickly sweet way, and at the same time capturing something of an America of days gone by, drawing inspiration from 1930s advertising illustrations and "appearing like doodles from long ago" thanks to Peacock's use of pre-yellowed book pages.

Daniel Peacock is one of the featured artists in the 'Everything but the Kitschen Sync' exhibition (until 27th March) at La Luz de Jesus, 4633 Hollywood Boulevard, LA.