Creole

Creole may refer to:

Languages

People

Creole peoples

The term Creole and its cognates in other languages — such as crioulo, criollo, creolo, créole, kriolu, criol, kreyol, kreol, kriol, krio, etc. — have been applied to people in different countries and epochs, with rather different meanings. Typically, creole peoples are fully or almost fully descended from white European colonial settlers. Their language, culture and/or racial origin represents the creolization resulting from the interaction and adaptation of colonial-era emigrants from Europe with non-European peoples, climates, cuisines, etc.

The development of creole languages is attributed to, but independent of, the emergence of a creole ethnic identity.

Etymology and overview

The English word creole derives from the French créole, which in turn came from Portuguese crioulo, which in turn came from Spanish criollo. This word, a derivative of the verb criar ("to raise"), was coined in the 15th century, in the trading and military outposts established by Spain and Portugal in West Africa. It originally referred to descendants of the Spanish and Portuguese settlers who were born and raised overseas. While the Spanish and Portuguese may have originally reserved the term criollo and crioulo for people of strictly European descent, the criollo population came to be dominated by people of mixed ancestry (mestizos). This mixing happened relatively quickly in most Spanish and Portuguese colonies. The growth of a mixed population was due to both the scarcity of Spanish and Portuguese women in the settlements, and to the Spanish and Portuguese Crown policy of encouraging mixed marriages in the colonies to create loyal colonial populations.

Creole (markup)

Creole is a lightweight markup language, aimed at being a common markup language for wikis, enabling and simplifying the transfer of content between different wiki engines. The idea was conceived during a workshop at the 2007 International Symposium on Wikis. An EBNF grammar and XML interchange format for Creole have also been published. Creole was designed by comparing major wiki engines and using the most common markup for a particular wikitext element. If no commonality was found, the wikitext of the dominant wiki engine MediaWiki was usually chosen.

On July 4, 2007, the version 1.0 (final) of Creole was released, and a two-year development freeze was implemented to allow time for authors of wiki engines to adopt the new markup. Although development to the standard itself is frozen, discussion in the developer community regarding good practices in wiki markup design and about possible additions and changes for future Creole versions continues.

As of 2012, adoption of Creole is limited. Many wiki systems offer it as an option, but few use it by default and few wiki websites enable this optional feature.

Furniture

Furniture is the mass noun for the movable objects intended to support various human activities such as seating (e.g., chairs, stools and sofas) and sleeping (e.g., beds). Furniture is also used to hold objects at a convenient height for work (as horizontal surfaces above the ground, such as tables and desks), or to store things (e.g., cupboards and shelves). Furniture can be a product of design and is considered a form of decorative art. In addition to furniture's functional role, it can serve a symbolic or religious purpose. It can be made from many materials, including metal, plastic, and wood. Furniture can be made using a variety of woodworking joints which often reflect the local culture.

Archeological research shows that Neolithic people used stone to build cupboards, dressers, beds, shelves and seats. Ancient furniture from the 8th-century BC includes tables and serving stands. The furniture of the Middle Ages was usually heavy, oak, and ornamented. Furniture design expanded during the Italian Renaissance of the fourteenth and fifteenth century. The seventeenth century, in both Southern and Northern Europe, was characterized by opulent, often gilded Baroque designs. The nineteenth century is usually defined by revival styles. The first three-quarters of the twentieth century are often seen as the march towards Modernism. One unique outgrowth of post-modern furniture design is a return to natural shapes and textures.

Furniture (band)

Furniture was a British new wave band, active from 1979 to 1991. The band is best known for the 1986 Top 30 hit, "Brilliant Mind".

The longest-serving and best-known line-up of Furniture (from 1983–1990), comprised founder members Jim Irvin (vocals), singer/multi-instrumentalist Tim Whelan and drummer Hamilton Lee, plus bass player/occasional singer Sally Still and keyboard player Maya Gilder. Larry N’Azone (saxophone) was an occasional member during this period and often appeared with the band live. Furniture's chief success was in the UK but they also enjoyed a following throughout Eastern Europe where they toured in 1987 and 1988.

Since the break-up of the band, Furniture has retained a certain cult appeal, partly due to a continuing high reputation for songwriting and partly due to the nature of the band's career. Noted for the bad luck and practical frustration that prevented them from making a long term-breakthrough, Furniture have been described as "one of the most unfortunate of bands, and a salutory lesson for any young hopefuls being courted by minor labels."

Furniture (song)

"Furniture" is a song by Amy Studt which was released as a digital download single on December 3, 2007. It is Studt's first single released on the 19 Entertainment record label. It is taken from her forthcoming album My Paper Made Men. This was a download only single and was therefore unable to chart on the UK Singles Chart.

Furniture is about a woman becoming an ornament to her partner. “There comes a point where you’re constantly together, but you may as well not have been there,” Studt explains. “You have your uses – you cook, you clean and someone has sex with you – and you just become part of the furniture.”

Track listing

Music video

There are two official music videos. The first one is a simple one of Studt wet and is shown with make-up running down her face in a bathroom. The second one was produced by Lee Lennox and shows Studt in a picture frame. The picture seems to be floating in the air for the whole song with cuts of various other pictures in the video through an old house.