Been using Linux as my primary OS for (counts on fingers)... decades now. Called them folders the whole time. Never had a problem with it. Nobody who matters cares.

Until now, i care a ton!
Oh wait, "Nobody who matters"
dang, nevermind
Exactly, thank you. My thought when seeing this was "who the fuck cares?"
- I care.
In parlance I have found you can say 'what directory is that folder in?' If you want to have a user give you a full path.

I typically call them folders when going through the GUI and directories when using CLI.

I never realized I subconsciously did this until your pointing it out. Huh. Thanks for that insight I suppose, haha
- well it sorta just makes sense, the gui presents it as a folder, you can move things around in it like a folder, conceptually it presents them in a way to make you think they are physical things stored in a physical folder/box. cli it really just feels like you are using a string of characters indicating the desired file, it feels more like a directory that way, even if it always really is that way, just showcased differently in the gui.
  brain doing brainy things, strings/lines vs pictures/labels
- Exactly my thoughts.
This is a fact.
To move a folder (gui), you just do it. To move a directory (cli) you have to implicitly say you want the contents too.
Big Brother approves

You make and use folders

I make directories and call them folders anyway

We are not the same

meh. folder is 2 syllables, directory is like 4. I'm lazy. If someone gave me a clear one syllable alternative that others would know what I meant (even if while cringing), i'd probably start using that instead. I've tried just "dir", but no one ever knows wtf i'm saying.

Yep, while this meme is funny and in jest. If someone actually seriously gave me shit for saying "folder" or "directory" I would have to ask them what Stallman's toe nails actually taste like. Because that is up there with his level of being rigid about something that I just can't stand.
- I do agree, but I do double check how I wrote and what I wrote when replying on GitHub 😁.
I just use "dir" about 90% of the time.
I like how you put things.
While conversing with Linux users, they should know what dir means... I mean, even if they don't use the terminal that often, dir is often used in GUIs as well in Linux.
- I might should clarify that when using "dir" verbally no one knows what I'm saying, but maybe how I pronounce it in my head isn't how everyone else does, lol. In text it's plenty clear, imo.

The real hard Linux nerds will just call them files

Everything. Is. A. File.
- You just put in my head an idea for the most boring "real or cake" spin-off imaginable

WELL ACKSHUALLY

I only call them by inode. Scoffs

inodes can be files or directories though.
- I just learned what an inode is last week so I'm doing my best here.
- "Everything is a file."

No one cares

As long as you don't call it a path.
- Always have, and always will! /waves old man cane around in a threatening manner
  Don't try to fuckin understand me, just let me escape from reality, ain't nobody telling me what to do, or what not to do, this is my life, this is my computer, so...
- Isn't that what a hierarchical string of them are called?

Well dir

So what's the difference?

My intuition is that directory is the older term and refers to something existing on the file system while folder can be that but also includes "virtual folders" that group together different files from across the file system like when photo manager shows you categories like 'recently viewed' or 'taken in 2023'.

None.
Directory is the older term, but when they started making computers user friendly they needed a friendlier word for it. Folders make sense because people understand putting files in folders in real life.
- Aha, to me it's an apt metaphors as files go into folders and it fits with the whole desktop analogy.
Uhhh directories are files where other files are stored in a computer, folders are pieces of paper used to store pieces of paper (or a file used to store another files in a computer)
- folders are only considered files in linux, in windows, its a mess
- A directory outside of computing is simply a list of items with a common characteristic. A list of names at an apartment building for example.

everything in my home directory is a folder, everything outside of that is a directory

And interestingly enough the home directory itself falls outside of itself
- Utterly mind-shattering revelation

alias cf=cd

Note: I don't actually do this. I'm not a monster.

Cloud foundry? Not familiar with cf
- Given that cd is "change directory," I assume cf is meant to be "change folder."

Me when I don't say inodes to refer to folders in iOS:

da fuck?
- Dumb joke, iKnow
iFolder
Air Directory
- I'm referring to folders as iFolders from now on
- Air Directory
  That actually sounds like a great name for a cloud service, lol
Ew, inodes is pretty cringe. :(

Meh, I dont care. If they used a word that wasn't directly linked to the concept then I might care.

Likewise, we all know what it means, regardless if you say it like this or that.

I mix and match. I used to have an Amiga back in the day, and they were called directories there. As such, most of my parlance is from those days. But most of my work life has been on Windows. So, folder has sneaked into everyday usage.

In our forum you just give the coordinates in your woven core memory...

theyrethesamepicture.jpg

Directory means a listing. You are referring to the list of names of some items.

I'm usually working with folders that actually contain files and other folders. It's often closed, so the content is not shown. A folder is a container.

Wikipedia clarifies this difference.

A telephone directory does not contain telephones.

a file directory doesent contain anything but adresses aswell
- Go down that path and it's all binary. But users deal with metaphors. And containers are very useful.

Both are noobs. Its Linux, they're all files!

kill this heathen!

Burn the witch!

Funny how the DOS equivalent of ls is dir, so before the GUI folder metaphor.

Don't forget cd.

I switched to Linux only about a year ago. I frequently called them directories even in Windows. I sometimes use folder too, but usually directory I think.

Oddly enough this made me realise I solely use directory for windows, I think cause windows uses dir instead of ls and cd is used in both lmao

Rubeus and the Hagrids - I Should NOT Have Said That

Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
Rubeus and the Hagrids - I Should NOT Have Said That
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I'm open-source; check me out at GitHub.

it's directory, if you refer to it in a cli context and folder if you refer to it in a gui context

[Whole discord begins screeching like a parrot store]

Discord? For Linux communities? Linux communities usually like to stick to non-proprietary solutions.
- My beard isn't big enough for those ones

threatening to open a folder

Funny!!! I love Harry potter and Hagrid is so sweet!

I have been switching a number of computers over to Linux over the last few months in preparation for the end of Windows 10. But honestly shit like this that makes me think, maybe Windows 11 isn't so bad?

Have you ever actually seen someone care about that particular choice of terminology, without being sarcastic trying to be funny?
- apple users
Tired of users' elitism? Get some corporate elitism instead!
What's wrong babe? We've just moved your taskbar, created one another directories for program files and documents, and renamed This Computer to Our Computer. It's not a big deal!
🙄