"I know one when I see one".

An instinctive response to codifying any music is the most reliable and genuine method. It places a sound within a matrix of mode, tonality, lyric, structure and context with extraordinary precision. Unreconstructed definitions of folk (1954) deny the reliability of such approaches as laissez faire ("the horse definition") but aural placement is highly developed even in youngsters with modest exposure to musical forms.

The debate isn't surprising as the revival blossomed in an era of romanticism and scientific taxonomy, hence the bi-polar responses to the definition here.