People who refer to other people as 'folk'

[BilliousBob]

People who do this make my teeth curl. AIBU

I like it.

I hate when women refer to other women as ‘a female’. It’s derivative of American gang culture and reduces women to their sex.

I know Canadians who say “friends”. As in “hey friends, who wants a coffee?”

You could try that, though people might also mistake you for a Quaker.

I'm happier being one of the folk than one of the guys. It's innocuous.

Don’t come to Scotland then, loads of folk do it.

I loathe its adoption in the corporate environment because I associate it with TRAs and the silencing and erasure of women. I would simply say 'all' or 'everyone' to address a group of people. Perfectly happy with 'guys' also, I think it has long since lost the association with maleness.

'Folk' used by someone who has clearly used the term it is absolutely fine, have no feelings about it either way.

Folk are people. People are folk
Move along , nothing to see here

I associate it with TRAs yes me too though I hadn’t really clocked the connection

YANBU

'Folk' gives me an image of medieval people weaving willow baskets. Or a woodland imp from a fairytale.

I think you need a dentist if your teeth are curling, they're usually clever folk, they'll sort you out.

Ah prejudice against regional accents still seems to be prevalent and "acceptable ".

Totally normal in Scotland.

As in "some folk have no idea how other folk speak".

There are about 5 million folk in Scotland.

None of them have the ability to curl their teeth though 😉

It’s toes curl

No, we use 'cunt'

'See those cunts over there?'

'Ah those cunts are alright'

'Weird cunts they are'

I just had to Google TRA. I don't agree with that at all, I think folk is just a casual way to refer to a mixed group. Maybe it's more normal in northern parts of the UK, but I definitely wouldn't think of it as being a gender point any more than 'people'.

Yes, you are correct

It is dreadful - I don’t mind folk music or folk history, or even nowt so queer because that is all ye olden dayes, but actually using it to refer to people now is toe curling, or perhaps teeth itching..

I'm Scottish and I don't mind use of the word folks instead of people but it's when someone says "morning folks" and such like, that irritates the hell out of me. Only thing worse is "morning girlies". Just say morning and leave it at that.

Well, I recently came across at work, an individual who wrote "<insert ethnic group> folk are more likely to do XYZ activity" which made me very much think, what did you just say??? That someone genuinely thought it was appropriate to refer to a group of individuals as black/white/asian/etc folk... very bizarre

It 'makes your teeth curl?' WTF does that even mean?

Ken, eh?

Can't please some folk eh? 🤪.. We use it quite a bit here in Derbyshire. But my mum says it most and she's from Yorkshire.

I’m Scottish and also use the word folk plenty and have had that commented negatively on a few times over the years on here. Weird!

I don't disagree, it can completely innocuous word when used by people who have always used it.

But its use has exploded in corporate speak in the last couple of years, and I believe it is driven by a sheep-like mentality to avoid upsetting TRAs, and absolutely nothing to do with avoiding default-male terminology that can be excluding to women (quite the opposite, sadly).