JHW - Willie MacIntosh (Child 183) is only two verses and chorus. Length doesn't matter.

WLD - As a kid, in the late 40s, I heard DJs misusing the word ballad as I learned the term in school. No "world of folk music buffs" here at that time.

And you must live in a very bizarre "world of folk music" if it refers to "Plaisir d'Amour" as a folk ballad.

If you read all the posts, you would also notice a varied expalnation of the term "ballad."