In “Words Matter. Talk About People: Not Customers, Not Consumers, Not Users,” Don Norman, the Dean of Experience Design, admonishes designers who degrade people by describing (and thinking of them) as repositories -- “customers, consumers, and users” -- who passively accept the riches that marketers, business development types, and too many designers bestow on them. It would be ironic for experience designers to speak of people in this way, for it is people who have experiences, not impersonalized business terminology. Though he doesn't say so explicitly, to extend Don's thinking, speaking of people as personas is another unfortunate and misleading shortcut. Here's an excerpt from Don's important declaration:

Words matter. Psychologists depersonalize the people they study by calling them “subjects.” We depersonalize the people we study by calling them “users.” Both terms are derogatory. They take us away from our primary mission: to help people. Power to the people, I say, to repurpose an old phrase. People. Human Beings. That’s what our discipline is really about.

If we are designing for people, why not call them that: people, a person, or perhaps humans. But no, we distance ourselves from the people for whom we design by giving them descriptive and somewhat degrading names, such as customer, consumer, or user. Customer – you know, someone who pays the bills. Consumer – one who consumes. User, or even worse, end user – the person who pushes the buttons, clicks the mouse, and keeps getting confused.