Talk:Waif

Anime?

The "In Anime" section is kind of... well... hrmm. Sounds false, really.

Not really. "waif" is generally used to describe characters like Ayanami Rei of Shin Seiki Evangelion. The S 16:00, 17 October 2006 (UTC)

Other Meanings?

Why 'Waif' ? Does it have other meanings?

220.245.178.137 09:32, 18 November 2005 (UTC)

• Good question. Where does the term come from? It doesn't say in the article. - Matthew238 04:45, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

The term dates from the 19th century. (unsigned)

I wouldn't have thought the word "waif" meant "thin"... According to the Answers.com dictionary,

(American Heritage)

1. A homeless person, especially a forsaken or orphaned child.

2. An abandoned young animal.

3. Something found and unclaimed, as an object cast up by the sea.

[Middle English, ownerless property, stray animal, from Anglo-Norman, probably of Scandinavian origin.]

(Wordnet)

The noun waif has one meaning:

Meaning #1: a homeless child especially one forsaken or orphaned

This should be in the article, and the other alleged meaning not found in the dictionary should be better referenced. Blockinblox 16:10, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

8 stone?

What system of measurement does this come from, and is it in common usage today? I remember some references in some old [Benny Hill] song skits.

Yup. Still used in the UK by anyone over about 35 years of age. 16 ounces to the pound. 14 pounds to the stone. All very logical. Fainites ^barleyscribs 07:56, 10 July 2009 (UTC)

Neutral POV

The fashion section seems clearly biased against thin actresses and models. The statement that it's "gone out of fashion" is an opinion presented as a fact, and therefore not appropriate for wikipedia. Said statement is given three references in an apparently insecure attempt to give it weight, which does not change the fact that it's an opinion, and furthermore the sources are all from newspaper articles from 12 years ago. Hardly current. The quote below that is extremely biased, and is from 7 years ago. Please discuss. Unless there is good reason to keep these things, or an opposing point of view is given, they'll be removed. Klopek007 (talk) 20:06, 29 August 2010 (UTC)

I'm not particularly defending that section, especially the obvious bias against thin models. However, I would argue that changes in fashion, properly documented, are historical facts and not mere opinion. Architectural styles are very clear examples of this, since each era leaves abundant and enduring examples of what was "in fashion" at that time, but it applies just as well to other fields. Kestenbaum (talk) 22:49, 20 July 2011 (UTC)

Hunh?

Quote: His voice sounded like Our Gang kid Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer's voice, but not voiced by him. It is known that Switzer was not an American voice actor because he was an American actor and singer.

I've removed those two sentences because they didn't add up. Maikel (talk) 07:57, 17 October 2014 (UTC)

Relevant?

Quote: Although the heroin chic look has gone out of fashion,[10][11][12] it still holds some popularity in Hollywood. For example, Wonderbra model Eva Herzigova was criticized over her waif-like figure. Daily Mirror columnist Sue Carroll wrote: The supermodel, looking like a throwback to the 'heroin chic' era of waif-like undernourished models, was an X-ray of her old self, skeletally thin with greasy hair, blue lips, a cold sore and sunken eyes.

I don't really see the connection to the lemma "waif", and the whole paragraph is a bit of a non-sequitur: the fact that this model is criticised for not looking the part with blue lips and a cold sore is used as an example that "heroin chic" is still popular in Hollywood. Maikel (talk) 08:12, 17 October 2014 (UTC)

Theory-finding

Me again.

Quote: The "gamine" look of the 1950s, associated with actresses like Audrey Hepburn (who starved as a teenager during the Dutch famine of 1944), Leslie Caron and Jean Seberg, was, to some extent, a precursor.

I don't want to play down the famine in 1944, but is it realistic to assume that it was the cause of Audrey Hepburn's waifish figure? She was a ballet dancer before that, and around 15 years old in 1944, i. e. not a small child anymore. Moreover, as an adult she was 1.70 m tall, which is normal going on tall for a woman of her generation.

So I have removed that reference. Maikel (talk) 08:31, 17 October 2014 (UTC)

Etymology

Just wondering about the reported etymology. Presumably the reference to old French comes from here : Glossaire de la langue d'oïl (1891, Paris)

However, this resource actually says (French native speaker here) that the etymology of guaif in Old Northern French comes from Middle German and English, with to waive as a proposed etymon. Maybe worth mentioning this? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2001:630:206:FFFF:0:0:3128:B (talk) 14:58, 14 August 2018 (UTC)