system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: Why do most signs say persons instead of people?

I always see signs like the ones saying that a pool shouldn't contain more than x persons. Why does it say persons instead of people?
gpt
I think "persons" has a slightly different common usage than "people." "Persons" is used when 2 or more individuals are specified as *separate entities*, while "people" is used when they are referred to a as group where individuality is unnecessary. Kind of like "he and she" vs. "they."

Why bother to make this distinction? IMO, when talking about rules or laws, it makes more sense to consider everyone as separate entities with different behaviors rather than as a uniform collection with implied uniform behavior, hence "persons" instead of "people."