Depends on context: > *Hey folks, what's the status of that document?* Just mean... | Hacker News

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deathanatos on April 19, 2022 | parent | context | favorite | on: Google Docs will “warn you away from inappropriate...

Depends on context:

> Hey folks, what's the status of that document?

Just means the people being addressed.

> Are your folks coming to dinner?

is, "Are your parents coming to dinner?"

Wiktionary lists both as definitions: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/folks#Etymology_1

melissalobos on April 19, 2022 | [–]

> Obama: 'We tortured some folks'

https://www.politico.com/story/2014/08/john-brennan-torture-...

grumpymouse on April 19, 2022 | [–]

I can’t hear ‘folks’ without thinking of Neddie Seagoon from The Goon Show. Probably not what proponents of the word are going for, the show being from the 1950s and in many ways ‘of its time’.

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