Wife acceptance factor
The Wife Acceptance Factor, Wife Approval Factor or Wife Appeal Factor[1] (WAF), is an estimation of the wife's acceptance or refusal of a new acquisition by the husband. It relies on the cliché that men make purchases based primarily on performance criteria but women are concerned more with visual and aesthetic appeal regarding high-fidelity loudspeakers, home theater systems and personal computers.[2]
WAF is sometimes known as Woman Approval Factor or Woman Acceptance Factor to accommodate unmarried heterosexual couples. As early as 1988,[3] the concept was expanded to include Spouse Acceptance Factor (SAF) to accommodate a neutral tone among heterosexual, gay and lesbian couples.[4] For instance, Neil Cherry's book Linux Smart Home for Dummies uses both "Spouse Approval Factor" and "Spouse Acceptance Factor" as it does not specify the sex of the reader.[5] In Cherry's opinion, while SAF "sounds like a joke, it isn't."[5] He continues by explaining that persons of any sex may be interested in keeping the home as peaceful as possible while indulging their interest in Linux-based electronics such as X10 devices for home automation.[5] However, Jen Haberkorn of The Washington Times wrote that the term "wife acceptance factor" is the more common one, given that men are usually more interested in electronics than their wives.[6] Wives control 88% of electronics purchases indirectly through their influence or directly by making the purchase themselves, according to a study by the Consumer Electronics Association.[6]
[edit] History
Larry Greenhill first used the term "Wife Acceptance Factor" in September 1983, writing for Stereophile magazine, but Greenhill credited fellow reviewer and music professor Lewis Lipnick with the coining of the term.[7][unreliable source?] Lipnick himself traces the origin to the 1950s when hi-fi loudspeakers were so large that they overwhelmed most living rooms. Lipnick's wife, actress Lynn-Jane Foreman, arrived at a different term: Marriage Interference Factor (MIF). Foreman suggested that audiophile husbands should balance their large and ugly electronic acquisitions with gifts to the wife made on the basis of similar expense, with opera tickets, jewelry and vacations abroad among the suggestions.
[edit] Definition
The Woman Acceptance Factor is inversely proportional to the possible amount of conflict resulting from the different points of view. The lower the WAF, the more convincing needs to be done, or the more conflict arises from the acquisition or project.
High WAF items are generally aesthetically designed, simplified devices like the iPod, or computer furniture which hides cables and connectors.[8]
[edit] References
- ^ Reynolds, Sallie (Spring 1988). "Dames in Toyland, Part 1: The City of the Plain". The Absolute Sound 13 (52): 64. "Wife Appeal Factor".
- ^ Du Pre, Vanessa Vyvyanne (Late Winter 1994). "Women Against the High-End: Audiophilia is a Dead End". The Absolute Sound 18 (93): 30.
- ^ McWilliams, Peter (1988). Peter McWilliams' personal electronics book. Prentice Hall Press. p. 132.
- ^ WAF (Wife Acceptance Factor), The Boston Globe June 28, 2004
- ^ a b c Cherry, Neil (2006). Linux Smart Home for Dummies. For Dummies. pp. 228, 231, 238, 315. ISBN 0764598236.
- ^ a b Haberkorn, Jen (January 21, 2006). "Does it pass the wife factor?". The Washington Times (Washington, DC). http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-141107902.html. Retrieved August 20, 2010.
- ^ Greenhill, Larry (September 1983). "Quad ESL-63 loudspeaker, part 3". Stereophile 6 (4). http://www.stereophile.com/floorloudspeakers/416/index8.html. Retrieved August 10, 2009. "Thanks again to Glenn Hart, who did not coin this term—it was Lewis Lipnick—but from whom I heard it for the first time!".
- ^ Top 10 products with high 'wife-acceptance factor' News.com October 28, 2006
