FOLKS

 

GIVE ‘FOLKS’ A BREAK (from your vocabulary)

 

Letter to politicos, pundits and journalists: 

Enough already! with the overuse of the word ‘folks’. It is so affected. Just because Obama and James Carville use ‘folks’ in their everyday language doesn’t mean you and every other Democrat need to do it. If you think it makes you sound cool or hip or like ordinary Joes when you’re not, you are misinformed.

Besides, casual familiarity to YOU might be an insult to someone else. 

I mean, do we all want to be referred to as folks by our leaders? I have zero need to drink a beer with my candidates in order to vote for them, and I don’t need to be referred to as folks to accept them. Our leaders should be smarter and more erudite than most of us.

 

People talk of an ever-evolving living language when it comes to grammar, and apparently, anything goes these days. But a university-educated, law school-trained Senator or Congressperson talking ‘folks’ in hopes of widening his/her base comes off as disingenuous.

 

Try introducing alternatives like ‘people’ or ‘voters’ or ‘Americans’ or ‘individuals’ or ‘families’ or any number of other descriptors, and give FOLKS a rest. 

Thank you.