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Every once in a while, I read a mention of “[name of politician or other prominent figure] and their ilk,†and whenever someone uses the work “ilk†in this way, it's nearly always when they are expressing negative opinions of someone. The primary definition at Dictionary.com is neutral (â€family, class, or kindâ€), and there's nothing in the etymology for this word to suggest anything pejorative about it (ME ilke, OE ilca, “the sameâ€). I wonder if people use it pejoratively just because it's an odd, slightly harsh-sounding word (This is probably a stretch, but I wonder if the fact that it sounds a little like “ick†has anything to do with it). Can anyone think of any other reason?
Come to think of it, talking about someone's "kind" has a somewhat pejorative ring to it as well (the first example of this use of "kind" that I thought of was "We don't serve your kind.") At the risk of answering my own question, I think that this pejorative edge may have less to do with the word being used than the generalization and lumping-together of people that goes along with it.
I think you answered your own question, EF. Go back to dictionary.com and look at the synonyms for ilk, where you will find kind, type, brand, class, kin, lot, persuasion, race, set, species, variety. I'll throw in et al. When we refer to groups of people in some negative way we sometimes use one of these words. However, when we refer to groups of people in some positive way, we normally just use the noun. For example, we will say scientists, doctors, nurses, firefighters, and teachers, not scientists and their ilk, doctors and their kind, etc. Can you imagine hearing someone say, "Teachers and their ilk play an important role in educating our children"?
Martha Barnette
Grant Barrett
Grant Barrett
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