Two more overused/devalued words: "folks" & "gentleman"

[Bloodblister Bob]

I guess Bush started the whole "folks" thing, publicly referring to any group of people (even terrorists) as "folks". Now it seems that almost every person who speaks before a TV camera uses the term as Bush does. What's up with that? What need does the misuse of this word fulfill? I can't think of one.

I don't know where the misuse of "gentleman" started, but when I hear it endlessly used in the media by public officials to describe people who are hardly worthy of the term (like murderers), I feel sad.

"The gentleman we have in custody was apprehended shortly after he blew off his wife's head." I think we've all heard it.

And let us not forget the idiotic phrase "point in time", which entered the national consciousness during Watergate, and hasn't been given a rest since.

[thereismore]

1. good observations. "Folks" gives me a gag. * has such a limited

vocabulavatory.

[mestup]

2. You make your case to us folks in a gentlemanly way at this point in time.

:)

[elsiesummers]

3. Yeah, "folks" is cringe inducing. Sorta like f__ks as a substitute. n/t

[MadHound]

4. Well, you had better not come out to the Midwest anytime soon

Those are two well used words out here. Folks is a catchall term, and gentleman can actually be quite the scathing put down if you accent it properly.

Regional dialects, ya gotta love 'em.