Woman

A woman is a female human. The term woman is usually reserved for an adult, with the term girl being the usual term for a female child or adolescent. The term woman is also sometimes used to identify a female human, regardless of age, as in phrases such as "women's rights". "Woman" may also refer to a person's gender identity. Women with typical genetic development are usually capable of giving birth from puberty until menopause. In the context of gender identity, transgender people who are biologically determined to be male and identify as women cannot give birth. Some intersex people who identify as women cannot give birth due to either sterility or inheriting one or more Y chromosomes. In extremely rare cases, people who have Swyer syndrome can give birth with medical assistance. Throughout history women have assumed or been assigned various social roles.

Etymology

The spelling of woman in English has progressed over the past millennium from wīfmann to wīmmann to wumman, and finally, the modern spelling woman. In Old English, wīfmann meant "female human", whereas wēr meant "male human". Mann or monn had a gender-neutral meaning of "human", corresponding to Modern English "person" or "someone"; however, subsequent to the Norman Conquest, man began to be used more in reference to "male human", and by the late 13th century had begun to eclipse usage of the older term wēr. The medial labial consonants f and m in wīfmann coalesced into the modern form "woman", while the initial element, which meant "female", underwent semantic narrowing to the sense of a married woman ("wife"). It is a popular misconception that the term "woman" is etymologically connected with "womb", which is from a separate Old English word, wambe meaning "stomach" (of male or female; modern German retains the colloquial term "Wampe" from Middle High German for "potbelly"). Nevertheless, such a false derivation of "woman" has appeared in print.

Women (novel)

Women is a 1978 novel written by Charles Bukowski, starring his semi-autobiographical character Henry Chinaski. In contrast to Factotum, Post Office and Ham on Rye, Women is centered on Chinaski's later life, as a celebrated poet and writer, not as a dead-end lowlife. It does, however, feature the same constant carousel of women with whom Chinaski only finds temporary fulfillment.

Plot

Women focuses on the many dissatisfactions Chinaski faced with each new woman he encountered. One of the women featured in the book is a character named Lydia Vance; she is based on Bukowski's one-time girlfriend, the sculptress and sometime poet Linda King. Another central female character in the book is named "Tanya" who is described as a 'tiny girl-child' and Chinaski's pen-pal. They have a weekend tryst. The real-life counterpart to this character wrote a self-published chapbook about the affair entitled "Blowing My Hero" under the pseudonym Amber O'Neil. The washed-up folksinger "Dinky Summers" is based on Bob Lind.

Women (album)

Women is the debut album by Calgary band Women, recorded by fellow Calgary-native Chad VanGaalen. It was released in 2008 on VanGaalen's Flemish Eye record label in Canada, and on Jagjaguwar in the US. The song "Sag Harbour Song" is a direct reference to the suicide of the artist Ray Johnson, like "Locust Valley" and "Venice Lockjaw" on Women's second album of 2010, Public Strain.

Recording

Women was recorded by Polaris Music Prize-nominated Chad VanGaalen, in "[VanGaalen's] basement, an outdoor culvert and a crawlspace." It was recorded using boom boxes and tape machines, contributing to its lo-fi sound.

Reception

Women was released to favourable reviews, with Cokemachineglow naming it as "the best 'indie rock' record released [in 2008], hands down."

Track listing

References

External links

Comedy

In a modern sense, comedy (from the Greek: κωμῳδία, kōmōidía) refers to any discourse or work generally intended to be humorous or to amuse by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, television, film and stand-up comedy. The origins of the term are found in Ancient Greece. In the Athenian democracy, the public opinion of voters was influenced by the political satire performed by the comic poets at the theaters. The theatrical genre of Greek comedy can be described as a dramatic performance which pits two groups or societies against each other in an amusing agon or conflict. Northrop Frye depicted these two opposing sides as a "Society of Youth" and a "Society of the Old". A revised view characterizes the essential agon of comedy as a struggle between a relatively powerless youth and the societal conventions that pose obstacles to his hopes. In this struggle, the youth is understood to be constrained by his lack of social authority, and is left with little choice but to take recourse in ruses which engender very dramatic irony which provokes laughter.

Comedy (anime)

Comedy (喜劇, Kigeki) is a short anime film produced in 2002 by Studio 4°C animation studio. The film was directed by Kazuto Nakazawa and featured the music of Franz Schubert's "Ave Maria". The film is noted for drawing its inspiration from Schubert's piece titled "Erlkönig".

Plot

During the Irish War of Independence, a five-year-old girl went out in search of the mysterious Demon’s Castle. She hoped to recruit the services of the infamous Black Swordsman, who was portrayed as a dark, albeit skilled, swordsman. She wanted the swordsman to protect her village from an imminent attack by English soldiers; however, the Black Swordsman would only accept a particular genre of books as payment for his services. Upon receiving the book, the swordsman engulfed himself in reading the novel, the cover of which shows that its title is "Denny's comedy". The second night in the castle, while reading the book on top of a tree, was the only time that the girl saw him smiling. While she anxiously waited for the Black Swordsman to finish the novel, the English approached the Irish village. As an attack was imminent, the Black Swordsman finished the novel and rushed to intercept the skirmish, where he quickly finished off the English soldiers. The bodies disappeared; the girl knew where to, but the swordsman told her not to not tell anybody about it, nor the way he smiled while reading the novel, or he would kill her and "devour" her. Upon leaving the village and while standing in the field with his horse, the girl runs to him to thank him. When turning to her, it is shown that the Swordsman has red stains on the lower part of his face and his neck.

Comedy (Paul Kelly & The Messengers album)

Comedy is a double album recorded by Paul Kelly & The Messengers and originally released in 1991. It was the last album released before the partnership of Kelly and The Messengers was dissolved.

It was released on Mushroom Records in Australia and Doctor Dream Records in the United States.

Track 9, "Take Your Time" is featured in the 1997 Australian movie The Castle.

Track listing

All songs written by Paul Kelly, except where noted.