"There is nothing wrong with the 54 definition. "
It certainly needs revisiting.
"However the word has now taken on a much wider meaning not totally unrelated to 54"
If it has, it is only to a miniscle number of people who apparently can't agree among themselves enough to cobble together an explanation of what they men by "folk" other than it means what I want it to mean" - just like Humpty Dumpty.
If it has come to mean something else, what is that something else, and who else agrees with your definition? Language- communication relies on consensus, otherwise we might as well keep it all to ourselves.
Until someone comes up with a new definition, the old one stands, warts and all.
Jim Carroll