I disagree that the term "folks" has been slowly changing. I was raised
using the word to mean anything from "parents" to "people". These examples
have all been given, but I'll give them again:
a) "Tell your folks hello for me." - (parents)
b) "I want to thank you folks for helping me out." - (people)
Anyway, if you've ever watched any of the old American Western movies, or
perhaps the old Andy Griffith Show, you know that this is not a recent thing
that's been happening with the word, but in fact has been its proper use for
a long, long time. I generally associate it with the American South. I don't
typically hear it in larger cities. In Southern Ohio it's plenty common.
Well, folks, thanks for letting me put my 2 cents in.
"voohoo2000" <voohoo2000@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:20040527085148.EC8E.VOOHOO2000@hotmail.com...
^__^ It's english!
voohoo2000 <voohoo2000@hotmail.com>
On Tue, 11 May 2004 16:18:19 GMT
Gnarlodious <gnarlodiousNULL@VOID.invalid.yahoo.com> wrote:
> I've noticed lately the word "folks" is undergoing a drastic change of
> meaning in my lifetime. I hear it used by talk radio,TV hosts and even
> George Bush in the exact opposite way it was traditionally used.
>
> Traditionally:
> simple people, parents, kin, neighbors, peasants, landsman, countryman
>
>
> Modern:
> "They need to extract information from these folks" (terrorists)
> "These folks are on death row for 20 years now" (prisoners)
> "The folks at Walt Disney..." (CEO's)
> "a full-scale investigation to hunt down and to find those folks who
> committed this act" (terrorists)
>
> What's going on with this word? Is "Folk Music" now "Terrorist Music"? Is
it
> an insidious propaganda campaign to deprive us of the comfort of "folks"
and
> leave us parentless, kinless and neighborless? An attack on the traditions
> of language preparing us for the a New American Century?
>
> -- Gnarlie
> http://www.Gnarlodious.com
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