Қарқынсыздық пен жоғалғандар туралы әңгімелер

Abandoned person

A waif (from the Old French guaif, "stray beast") is a person removed, by hardship, loss or other helpless circumstance, from their original surroundings. The most common usage of the word is to designate a homeless, forsaken or orphaned child, or someone whose appearance is evocative of the same. As such, the term is similar to a ragamuffin or street urchin, although the main distinction is volitional: a runaway youth might live on the streets, but would not properly be called a waif as the departure from one's home was an exercise of free will. Likewise, a person fleeing their home for purposes of safety (as in response to political oppression or natural disaster), is typically considered not a waif but a refugee.

In nautical terms, a waif is any survivor of a shipwreck compelled to make land upon a foreign shore. In this sense waif is roughly synonymous with castaway, although the latter term is generally associated with isolation; a waif (in the nautical sense) usually indicates a survivor of a marine disaster who has fallen into the care or custody of others. "Some seven years ago there appeared the remarkable saga of Manjiro, the shipwrecked Japanese waif who was rescued and brought to the United States by a Yankee whaling captain."

Dating from the Middle Ages, when a woman was proscribed and subjected to penalties of outlawry, she was said to be “waived” and called a "waif". This waiving of the law was tantamount to outlawry since it removed all protection of the law. Women in this status were outside of the "law", and as with male outlaws, others could kill them on sight as if they were wild animals. Under British common law, items stolen by a thief and discarded during the thief's flight are "waifs." The monarch owns such waifs by royal prerogative.

References to waifs in music are sometimes self deprecating, as in the name of the Australian folk rock band name The Waifs, or Tracy Bonham's 1995 rock song "I'm Not a Waif". Many other songs use the word "waif" to romanticize street children and runaways, as in the Marc Almond 1990 song "Waifs and Strays", or the Steely Dan jazz rock 2000 song "Janie Runaway", which describes the title character as being the "wonderwaif of Gramercy Park". The psychedelic rock song "Black and White Sunshine" by Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds, from the 2017 album Who Built the Moon?, contains the lyrics "these are the glory days for the waifs and the strays". Moreover in 2017, the Canadian band Alvvays recorded the indie pop song "Saved By A Waif", together with the whole album Antisocialites. Frank Turner's 2019 folk song "Jinny Bingham's Ghost" contains the lyrics "Be sure to raise a toast. To the patron saint of the waifs and strays. To Jinny Bingham's ghost".

In botany, a "waif" is an unusual species found in the wild that is alien and either a) is unsuccessful at reproduction without human intervention, or b) only persists a few generations and disappears. Such a plant never gets naturalized in the wild. "Waif flora" also refers to plant species which occur on oceanic islands due to chance long distance dispersion of seeds.

In fashion and related popular culture, the term "waif" is commonly used to describe a very thin person, usually a woman. "The waif look" was used in the 1960s to describe thin, large eyed models such as Twiggy, and Edie Sedgwick. The "gamine" look of the 1950s, associated with actresses such as Audrey Hepburn, Leslie Caron and Jean Seberg, was, to some extent, a precursor. The term "waif" was seemingly ubiquitous in the 1990s, with heroin chic fashion and models such as Kate Moss and Jaime King on the runways and in advertisements. Actresses such as Ally McBeal star Calista Flockhart, Winona Ryder, recently the British actress Keira Knightley and singer Celine Dion have all been pinned with the term. Although the heroin chic look has gone out of fashion, it still holds some popularity in Hollywood. For example, Wonderbra model Eva Herzigová was criticized over her waif like figure. Daily Mirror columnist Sue Carroll wrote: