"Susan Wheary" <susanwheary@emypeople.net> wrote: >I have seen the term "friends" used in literature to mean, more or less, >all persons well-acquainted with and having a concern for the individual >in question. Well, the Oxford English Dictionary begins its many definitions of "friend" with a use from the year 1018 (in "Beowulf") under the meaning of "one joined to another in mutual benevolence and intimacy, not ordinarily applied to lovers or relatives". It goes on to many other meanings, including "kinsman or near relation" and "a mere acquaintance, or a stranger, as a mark of goodwill or kindly condescension", or "a supporter, patron [etc.]". And then we have the Quakers. It's also applied to God. It's just an all-purpose word for some positive relationship. Reading a specific meaning into it is just foolhardy. John