"Your use of "folk" is the technical jargon meaning "
Far from it Howard - it floated outr boat for several decades until it was edged out by an amorphous something else
It still exists in recordings, published collections, labels like Topic, Springthyme, Folktrax and Folkways, and is heavily documented
Over here, just across the Irish Sea, youngsters are finding for the first time in their many thousands and plating and singing it to a perfection that is breathtaking
There is no "general use" of the term folk - most people don't use it , those few who do are guided by its misuse rather than what it actually is.
THere isn't enough agreement of the misuse to have stabalised it into a different meaning

Look - in the end, the misuse doesn't interest me other than the damage it has had done and continues to do on the real thing
None of you seem to be prepared to discuss that damage, which confirms MacColl's words for me - "Folk song will only die if it falls into the hands of those who don;t like it or don't understand it"
Until some of you are prepared to discuss the real thing, I see little point in these circles we seem to be moving in
The Kinks - Really !!!!
Jim Carroll