I see this phrase used a lot on blahaj lemmy. I’m actually bi but I don’t really like using the word ‘folk’ over ‘people’… it just kinda sounds pretentious, I don’t want to be described like a mythical creature
A total guess on my part, but it’s just been in the lexicon for so long, including a title of a TV show, that its just set in at this point.
I have mostly positive vibes with “folk”, like folk music, folk art, common folk, etc. But I understand where you are coming from with this. It kind of smacks of “other” in this particular context.
Folk is pretentious? It literally means common people, the opposite of pretentiousness. I am thinking that you don’t have much familiarity with the word nor the people that use it. It does not carry the meaning that you seem to think it does.
You are likely hearing /seeing it being used by people raised in an area where that is common vernacular to casually identify a group of people that share a culture.
I think in more recent times it has to do with using folks as an easy gender neutral address instead of saying you guys etc, and then it spread out everywhere because it is, well, easier and people don’t want to think too much.
