Timeline for Proper way to address a very small group that includes both sexes
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
24 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 15, 2020 at 7:40 | history | edited | CommunityBot |
Commonmark migration
|
|
| May 4, 2016 at 21:30 | comment | added | reirab | @SeldomNeedy I see in it e-mails at times, but usually only in rather informal contexts, not in the office. Hearing it spoken is somewhat common, though. | |
| May 4, 2016 at 20:18 | comment | added | Seldom 'Where's Monica' Needy | @reirab I'm from a Western state and hearing "folks" is reasonably common, including in e-mails – often as a way of avoiding formalisms such as 'Ladies and gentlemen' or other potentially-biased terms like 'Guys.' 'Ladies and gentlemen" is heard occasionally but it's often ironic. | |
| May 4, 2016 at 11:21 | comment | added | Fattie | I'd say that (evidently) you have to have a native touch to get the subtleties of "folks" right. Don't even mention that it would seem totally different (and perhaps very weird) in non-US English. If this question is along the lines of "what's the best approach for a non-native speaker", then something very subtle and idiomatic (which could easily be used very-wrongly) is a poor approach. | |
| May 4, 2016 at 9:12 | comment | added | Rory Alsop | Folks is very common here. I use it all the time, as do various folks I work with and speak to. | |
| May 4, 2016 at 2:12 | comment | added | David K | @JoeBlow "They saw me drive out of town taking you folks up to McCaslin." I guess that speaker has a mighty big car to take all those 280 million folks on a drive. | |
| May 3, 2016 at 15:59 | comment | added | reirab | I'm also from the South and I would find it rather weird to see an e-mail at work addressed this way. That's not to say that there's anything wrong with the word itself, just that I would find it out of place in that context. | |
| May 3, 2016 at 14:02 | comment | added | Fattie | No offense, but this answer is just ... not very good! Note that the very examples given ("a politician addressing 280 million people") is just totally unrealistic in relation to the question ("I am using email to communicate with three colleagues.") | |
| May 3, 2016 at 1:01 | comment | added | user150753 | I believe the original quote was "Th-th-th-tha-tha-tha-that's all, folks!" I don't know when 'for tonight' was added. | |
| May 2, 2016 at 23:37 | comment | added | ColleenV | @Mitch Yeah, and some of the girls on Long Island look and talk exactly like you see the movies, and some Canadians actually say aboot. The stereotypes don't materialize out of thin air, sug. | |
| May 2, 2016 at 23:12 | comment | added | Mitch | @ColleenV Wait, southerners say that, for real? None (in my family or friends) that I know of! | |
| May 2, 2016 at 20:21 | comment | added | ab2 | @ColleenV If folks is part of your natural vocabulary, OK. I encounter it naturally mostly out West in the mountains. But, as you recognize, folks has been hijacked. | |
| May 2, 2016 at 20:04 | comment | added | ColleenV | I used folks way before it was ruined, and I refuse to let it go. What am I supposed to say? The politicians glommed on to it because it's something warm, friendly Southerners say, and it's harder to make it sound bad, unless you say something stupid like "we tortured some folks". I use folks because I am actually friendly, Southern, and sincere. I hate that my culture has been stolen and used for pandering. @ab2 why are only rural folks allowed to talk like a Southerner? Or is that code for ignorant? | |
| May 2, 2016 at 19:59 | comment | added | ab2 | Woman here. I'd rather be part of a group addressed as "hey, dudes" than "hello, folks". I instinctively recoil from "folks" -- unless the speaker is a genuine rural person, and it is genuinely part of his/her everyday speech. | |
| May 2, 2016 at 19:46 | comment | added | Spehro 'speff' Pefhany | Rumsfeld ruined 'folks' for me in the same way A Clockwork Orange ruined Singing in the Rain. | |
| May 2, 2016 at 19:05 | comment | added | moonwave99 | Relevant. | |
| May 2, 2016 at 18:39 | comment | added | Peter Turner | Totally hate folks. The No Agenda Show has shown it to be a synonym for "People we don't like, or at least don't agree with", esp. when used by Democrats to refer to Republicans (or terrorists, as you've shown) | |
| May 2, 2016 at 18:11 | comment | added | reirab | @Mitch Yeah, it's perfect for a pandering politician, but I don't think I'd address an e-mail to coworkers that way. | |
| May 2, 2016 at 17:39 | comment | added | Mitch | 'Folks' is used by some, but is not common and sounds very ... folksy. | |
| May 2, 2016 at 15:45 | history | edited | Elian | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
added 392 characters in body
|
| May 2, 2016 at 15:26 | history | edited | Elian | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
added 258 characters in body
|
| May 2, 2016 at 15:21 | history | undeleted | Elian | ||
| May 2, 2016 at 15:13 | history | deleted | Elian | via Vote | |
| May 2, 2016 at 15:04 | history | answered | Elian | CC BY-SA 3.0 |