As a word and concept, “folks” becomes a subliminal proxy for kinship. President Obama has been most friendly in this regard. According to an analysis of his news conferences undertaken last year by Buzzfeed, Obama has used “folks” 7.3 times per 10,000 words, compared with George W. Bush’s 2.2 per 10,000 words. Bill Clinton averaged a mere one use per 10,000 words. Obama even extended the word to truly horrendous actors. “We tortured some folks,” he conceded last year, referring to the kinds of “folks (who) mess with Americans” he spoke of in a debate with Mitt Romney in 2012. They might be terrorists, but there’s no reason a president has to talk down to these folks (even when torturing them).

What is it about Obama and “folks”? I asked Jon Favreau, the president’s former speechwriter, who admitted that he himself tends to say “folks” a lot and is made fun of for it. “I can’t tell if it’s Obama’s fault or my dad’s fault,” Favreau wrote in an email. He blames imperfect alternatives. “ ‘People’ is a little plain, also overused and when directed toward a crowd, a little condescending,” Favreau wrote. “ ‘Friends’ (they are not friends); ‘my fellow Americans’ (he is Kenyan).” Favreau was kidding about the Kenyan thing, but either way, it’s not his problem anymore.

“Folk” suggests a shared membership “in a homogeneous social group as contrasted with the individual or with a selected class,” according to Webster. It originated from the Old English “folc,” or “people,” and expanded in the 19th century to incorporate the concept of “folklore,” which included a sense of passing along a common narrative.

“Folks” made occasional political appearances in the early 20th century, often in the form of “just folks” — “just” underscoring the attempt at humility. In a Times account of President Warren G. Harding’s 1923 trip to Denver, he was commended for his accessible manner. “He was ‘just folks’ and people liked his ways,” The Times concluded. A clip from 1932 described F.D.R.’s campaigning in New York for the future governor Herbert Lehman. “All was neighborly, homely, informal; from dairy farmer to governor, from garden trickster to lieutenant governor,” The Times reported. “Everybody was just folks.”

In recent decades, “folks” has become more of a politician’s crutch. As Favreau noted, it solves the problem of how best to refer to any collection, assembly or generic mass. Alternatives abound but can be problematic: “The American people” was an old standby, as in “the American people are sick and tired of so-and-so.” But this can seem a little presumptuous, especially as the population has grown more diverse, globalized and splintered. “The People” (as in “power to the people” or “we the people”) enjoyed an uprising in the ’60s and ’70s. Backlash ensued: “Unfortunately, I Do Not Identify With the People,” said a headline over a 1972 Times column by Kathryn R. Bloom. “The People is the little guy. The People is honest. Decent. Sincere. Simple, even. The People is fed up.”