Yob?

I kept seeing this word while reading coverage of the riots in the Daily Mail and other British news outlets---what is this "yob"?

I mean we all know that the Brits speak English just like we do--except not so much. So, to the interwebs for info on "yob." I discovered that the word was coined in the 1700s--an era that had a lot of violent moments. The reverse of "boy," it is indicating that the male in question is exactly the opposite of a normal good boy. Thus generally, yobs are male. However, thug and hooligan are easy synonyms and can be applied to both sexes. A variation on the word I saw was "yobbo" which is similar and generally used in Australia. There it also acquires the sense of what we call "white trash" here in the USA.

A look at the Urban Dictionary reveals that the Brits have coined lots of terms for the thug element among them.