Diane,

It's okay not to know something. But when you are compelled to accuse other people of "spurious semantics" just because you didn't know something, it's actually quite sad. "Apologetics" is a branch of Christian rhetoric well known to anyone who follows the ongoing controversies about how much and where Christianity should be part of public discourse. An apologist is not someone who apologizes. It's really that simple.

For the record, my characterization of "apologist" was not in fact copied from Wikipedia. If you visit Wikipedia, which I just did, you will see that my phrasing has almost nothing in common with theirs.

Nor was my post "spurious semantics." An "apologist" is not someone who apologizes, any more than a rape victim is someone who experience rapture. Just because two words share a root does not mean they have the same meaning.

So, to clarify that we are indeed addressing the thread's topic, it appears that Don felt Adrian Edmondson was a welcome apologist for folk music on the BBC. And he was using the word correctly, despite Diane's objections.

Furthermore, Ade Edmondson has been a folk supporter for years, and has even helped to influence his daughter to become a performer. Well done!