I often use the word people to mean multiple persons. However, I’ve noticed that sometimes people will laugh/smirk when I use it. For example, one time I was talking about how my sister and her family/household travel often, saying, “Those people travel a lot,” and the person repeated those people and gave a slight laugh. I’m wondering if I may be giving some sort of unintentional implied message when I use that word.

Does the word people mean anything other than multiple persons, such as a group of persons united by a common identity (family, experience, nationality, ethnicity, etc.)?

  • Deceptichum@quokk.au
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    3 months ago

    This must be an American thing because adding those doesn’t suddenly make a sentence sound more racist to me or have any connotations.

    • bstix@feddit.dk
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      3 months ago

      I can hear it and am not American.

      Try snubbing your nose while saying"those people"

    • snooggums@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      I can’t think of any sayings or phrasings that would be universal across the entire globe.