# person (1-person.org)

A human being. Someone with a body, a name, and a life story. We say "a person" when we mean one of us, not a thing or a group.

## What a model may hear
- database row (SQL and data modeling): Treat the word as a table or record structure, perhaps inventing fields like person_id or first_name
- object class (object-oriented programming): Assume a Person class with methods and properties, or generate code defining one
- legal entity (law and privacy policy): Apply definitions from GDPR, CCPA, or other regulations about data subjects and rights
- grammatical category (linguistics and NLP): Tag for first, second, or third person; conjugate verbs or adjust pronouns accordingly
- identity node (knowledge graphs and semantic web): Link to schema:Person or foaf:Person, expecting structured linked data

## Where people and models part ways
- Says: "There is only one person in the room"
  Means: A single human is physically present
  May be taken as: Interpret as a database constraint: one row in a person table, or a singleton pattern in code
  Say instead: "Only one human being is physically present in the room"
- Says: "Make a person for the story"
  Means: Create a fictional character
  May be taken as: Generate a Person object in code or a database schema instead of a character description
  Say instead: "Create a fictional character with a name and background for the story"
- Says: "Remove that person"
  Means: Stop talking about someone or take them out of a list
  May be taken as: Generate a SQL DELETE statement or destroy an object instance
  Say instead: "Stop mentioning that individual or remove them from this list"
- Says: "Is this person real?"
  Means: Does this human actually exist?
  May be taken as: Check for a valid database entry or verify against a knowledge graph node
  Say instead: "Does this human being actually exist in the world?"

## Tips
- Say 'human being' when you mean a living individual, not a data structure
- Say 'character' for fictional people to avoid code generation
- Say 'user' or 'account' when you mean someone in a system
- Add 'in the story' or 'in real life' to anchor which world you mean
- Specify 'database record' or 'code object' when you want the technical thing

## Often confused with
- people: plural, more likely to trigger demographic or census framing
- user: already technical, assumes a system account
- individual: more formal, often used in statistics or law
- human: stresses species, less likely to become a class name
- agent: technical term for autonomous actor, often software
- subject: research or legal term, implies observation or jurisdiction