Why do we use the word folks?

Answer. Both folks and guys are friendly informal words that are used to address, and sometimes refer to, groups of people. Folks is generally viewed as more respectful and polite and therefore tends to be used by adults talking to adults.

What is the origin of the word folks?

Why does it have this familiarity? Well, “folks” is derived from the Old English “folc,” meaning “common people” “Folks” eventually became colloquialized in English, but was considered inelegant by the beginning of the 19th century (probably because it assumes such familiarity).

Is folks an American word?

It’s standard usage in Scotland. The plural form ‘Folks’ often means ‘my parents’ as in ‘The folks are coming this evening’, while ‘folk’ tends to mean people in general as in ‘the folk at work were saying petrol’s going to go up again’.

Are parents called folks?

Your folks are your close family, especially your mother and father. This usage is more common in American English than in British English.

Which is correct folk or folks?

But while British speakers favor “folk” as the plural, Americans usually say “folks,” and this is considered standard English in the U.S. The plural “folk” (“country folk”) does pop up in American English too, especially in the Appalachian region, an area where many old British usages still survive, e.g., “afeared,” ” …

What part of the US says folks?

But American Heritage says “folks” in the sense of one’s family, particularly one’s parents, is informal. None of the three dictionaries object to the use of “folks” to mean people of a specified kind, as in “city folks,” “old folks,” “plain folks,” and so on.

Is folks a Southern term?

It is not slang. It is a very old usage in the United States, and it cannot be described as a regionalism since it’s extremely widespread.

Is there such a word as folks?

Word forms: folkslanguage note: Folk can also be used as the plural form for meaning [sense 1]. You can refer to people as folk or folks.

Why do we call parents folks?

The Oxford English Dictionary’s earliest citation for folks meaning ‘the people of one’s family, parents, children, relatives’ is dated 1715. It’s an example of semantic narrowing in which a word used to describe a general category takes on a specific meaning.

Are all Americans “folks”?

In “A Place Called Hope,” the speech in which he accepted the Democratic nomination for the presidency in 1992, he suggested that all Americans were just folks: “There is no them; there is only us.” So, when I say, “Hi, folks,” I revert to the traditional, inclusive spirit of the word; “us,” not “them.”

What is the meaning of the word folks?

The word “folks” used to have a bonhomous, backslapping, affectionate quality in this country; “folks” were ordinary people like you and me, whom we recognized as familiar, or even familial.

What happened to the ‘folks’?

Lately, though, the usage of this word has been shifting, and the change has come from the White House — transforming the “folks” of yesteryear into a complex and alien entourage whom you’d be unhappy to bump into at a backyard barbecue.

Is it awkward for a black person to use the word ‘president’?

Yet, it seems almost as awkward when the president, a black person, uses the word in that way as when a white one does. Is that because using the word even to refer to it should be considered beneath the dignity of anyone regardless of color?