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.)?
Persons is a set of individuals while people generally implies a group. “Those people” as a phrase carries negative connotations because of its use by racists pretending to be not quite as racist.
You can use them interchangeably as long as you’re trying to imply the person’s you are referring to are linked or similar in some way.