Does anybody really use the work folk as much as this SS lesson (or ever)?

I'm baffled that the editor thinks "folk" is fitting to today's adult vernacular.

What do you folks say? (bleh! That hurts just to type...)

Hey folks ... I use this word all the time. I see no offense in it and neither does the dictionary:

folk
–noun
1. Usually, folks. ( used with a plural verb ) people in general: Folks say there wasn't much rain last summer.
2. Often, folks. ( used with a plural verb ) people of a specified class or group: country folk; poor folks.
3. ( used with a plural verb ) people as the carriers of culture, esp. as representing the composite of social mores, customs, forms of behavior, etc., in a society: The folk are the bearers of oral tradition.
4. folks, Informal .
a. members of one's family; one's relatives: All his folks come from France.
b. one's parents: Will your folks let you go?
5. Archaic . a people or tribe.
–adjective
6. of or originating among the common people: folk beliefs; a folk hero.
7. having unknown origins and reflecting the traditional forms of a society: folk culture; folk art.
—Idiom
8. just folks, Informal . (of persons) simple, unaffected, unsophisticated, or open-hearted people: He enjoyed visiting his grandparents because they were just folks.
Use folk in a Sentence
See images of folk
Search folk on the Web

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Origin:
bef. 900; ME; OE folc; c. OS, ON folk, OHG folk (G Volk )


—Synonyms
4. kinfolk, kin, relations, people; clan, tribe.

I use it all the time.

Interestinng!

I haven't heard it much since moving to Australia 16 years ago.

Must still be common elsewhere. Yet another reason for conextualized SS pamphlets in each Country (even if English is spoken).

I've noticed a number of American coloquialisms in the SS lesson over the years. And the illustrations are often overtly Amoerican. It's a big world, folks!

lol

Thanks David. Us folks appreciate it.

I do think it rather difficult for one publication to satisify all the coloquilisms of the world. Probably best to exhibit some tolerance.

Doesn't Australia have it's own publication though? I noticed that when I lived in Europe that the British had their own.
Perhaps you need to speak with your editor who missed turning some of those American coloquilisms into Australian coloquilisms.

From what I understand Clifford Goldstein, who is the editor, has different people do the SS each quarter. And they are from different parts of the world. But I guess that even than it gets proof read here and maybe changed to suit the proofreader?

I believe this quarter's material was primarily written by Don Neufeld, repeating much of an earlier quarterly's material from the 1970s. The author is no longer living, and may have wanted to change the word "folks" by now. It does come across as a little too folksy to my ears!

LD

Ah, a kindred spirit...

"He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches."

lol

Nope. I was one of the editors for three years at the Signs Publishing Company here in Australia. We get the same lesson as the Americans - even the spellings are left Americanized (Americanised) ...

Would be nice to see some change in this area, for sure!

Yes. And some people still like King James.

I guess I just don't understand being upset over the use of the word folks. So what if it's out of common usage in your part of the world? Does that make the author stupid or ignorant? How does it affect the truth that is taught? Does using the word folks somehow cause truth to be less than true?

I have read a lot of stuff written in Australia and I could care less when it includes folksy wording from there. To me, all that matters is the message. I would have to consider myself very arrogant to demand that an Australian edit his message just for me. He wrote it with his own country as his target audience, and in the grammar to which he was accustomed. Why that should be any of my business is beyond me, because I accept him just as he is. In my eyes it's bigotry to slam someone just because their language is affected by their personal history and location.

Should I also demand that than an Australian change his accent when he speaks to me? That's pretty folksy too as accents are very regional.

I know people, and some of them I consider to be friends, who swear so often that every other word that comes out of their mouth is a swear word. They will drop the f-bomb every other sentence. Yet, they are completely oblivious to it. In their everyday environment everyone talks like that. Should I condemn them for how they speak? Should I somehow consider them as being of somewhat lesser value than I am and demand they use the same language I do? Or, should I accept them as they are? What's the Christian attitude?

LOL

This takes me back to my childhood. My father, who was a grammar specialist (among other things), used to tell me that the word 'folks' was improper. The word 'folk' was already plural, so there was no need to add the S.

I never realized that the Australian idiom was different in that respect. Or that the word itself has fallen into disuse.

Come to C/A and become educated!

And you dad was right. I don't imagine that suprises you in the least. lol

Well, actually, the man, as well-meaning as he was, was wrong. From the online version of the Merriam-Webster dictionary:



I suppose usage could have changed since her dad's time, but it's unlikely as folk/folks has been in usage since the 12th century. Either form is considered to be correct.