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prettygoodwordilk (ilk) - n., family, class, or kind; (Scot.) the same.
The now Scots-only sense is the original meaning, going back to an Old English pronoun -- it survived into Middle English in phrases like "Johnstone of that ilk" meaning "Johnstone from the place with the same name" i.e. Johnstone of Johnstone. This was misunderstood as being used in the first sense, and the fact that it's been used this way (largely without any consciousness of its origin) for centuries has not stopped some prescriptivist grammarians from insisting that if it's from a misunderstanding it is categorically incorrect usage, and other arguments of that ilk.
---L.
The now Scots-only sense is the original meaning, going back to an Old English pronoun -- it survived into Middle English in phrases like "Johnstone of that ilk" meaning "Johnstone from the place with the same name" i.e. Johnstone of Johnstone. This was misunderstood as being used in the first sense, and the fact that it's been used this way (largely without any consciousness of its origin) for centuries has not stopped some prescriptivist grammarians from insisting that if it's from a misunderstanding it is categorically incorrect usage, and other arguments of that ilk.
---L.
