# People vs. Persons? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 22, 2002, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-vs-persons/144435 "2002-12-22T22:23:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2002, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-vs-persons/144435/1 "2002-12-22T22:23:15Z")
Why does the news always say “so many persons were injured…”, as one example, instead of “people”? Why is persons acceptable when the plural of “person” is “people”? Or, so it is taught in elementary school. - Jinx ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2002, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-vs-persons/144435/2 "2002-12-22T23:01:59Z")
Persons has long been an acceptable alternative to “people.” Many careful users of English prefer “persons,” in fact, because this allows one to restrict “people” to its sort-of-singular meaning, as in “The American people shall not… (whatever).” ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2002, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-vs-persons/144435/3 "2002-12-22T23:42:11Z")
_People_ is not (or at least was not) the plural of _person_. The two words come from different Latin roots. And the words are not synonymous - _people_ can be singular, and it can refer to an uncountable number of people, while _persons_ can only refer to a countable number. You wouldn’t say “the persons of the United States”, for example.