[Ads-l] Antedating of "Folk-Singer"

[Jonathan Lighter]

Experience with "folk music" fans tells me that lots of people agree with
Bing.

The Peters novel sounds interesting.

JL

On Sat, Jul 15, 2023 at 10:19 AM Margaret Winters <mewinters at wayne.edu>
wrote:

> And a great number of those 'taboo' topics also show up in other genres -
> not very differentiating.  Poor work, bot!!!!
>
> ----------------------------
> MARGARET E WINTERS
> Former Provost
> Professor Emerita - French and Linguistics
> Wayne State University
> Detroit, MI  48202
>
> mewinters at wayne.edu
>
> ________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of
> Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Sent: Saturday, July 15, 2023 10:16 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Subject: Re: Antedating of "Folk-Singer"
>
> [EXTERNAL]
>
> Bing Chatbot characterizes "folk music" as follows :
>
> "Folk music is known for its storytelling and often tackles 'taboo' topics
> like oppression, politics, depression, and war."
>
> So nowadays the *topic* mostly defines the genre. According to a robot.
>
> JL
>
> On Sat, Jul 15, 2023 at 9:56 AM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > What I find interesting is that the first "folk singers" appear to have
> > been national poets or, in the case of the sagas, storytellers.
> >
> > The "Great Man" theory as applied to national cultures.
> >
> > What is "folk" has been a vexed question for a long time.
> >
> > Music review by John Donahue in _The New Yorker_, June 8, 2015, p. 26:
> >
> > "Olivia Chaney...is bringing the grand tradition of British folk music
> > into the twenty-first century...She often performs barefoot....When she
> > takes her place behind the harmonium ... and, with a steely gaze, starts
> > singing, it's as if a mystical spirit has entered the room. It's chilling
> > when she slowly intones 'Stand by the roadside/ facing the headlights/
> wait
> > for the break of dawn,' on her adaptation of 'Blessed Instant,' by the
> > Norwegian jazz singer Sidsel Endresen...."
> >
> > JL
> >
> > On Sat, Jul 15, 2023 at 8:42 AM Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu>
> > wrote:
> >
> >> I believe the second article I ever published, many years ago, was
> titled
> >> "Antedatings of Folk- Compounds in OED and Its Supplement."  The
> etymology
> >> of these compounds is complicated: some of them were inspired by W. J.
> >> Thoms's coinage of "folk-lore" in 1846, others were formed on German
> models.
> >>
> >> folk-singer (OED 1898)
> >>
> >> 1870 _The Orchestra_ 2 Sept. 378 (ProQuest)  Dupont on the other hand
> was
> >> a Folk singer -- a poet of the people.
> >>
> >> Fred Shapiro
> >>
> >> ------------------------------------------------------------
> >> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >>
> >
> >
> > --
> > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> truth."
> >
>
>
> --
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