Question: I came across the term 'everyday people' in an unpublished essay. It strikes me as derogatory just because it is referring to people rather than to things and makes them appear common. But then there is 'common people' or 'commoners' to contend with, so I'm not very sure.

It was used like this:

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> Everyday people trooped to the theatre to see the show.
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Okay, so here is the exact sentence in its original context (it's from a short book review):

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> The book is brimming with stories of everyday people who in spite of
> the curves life threw at them were able to come up strong and better.
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> 
> 

What is the authoritative word on this?

Answer: 
I guess context is the only thing that can really give the answer. *Everyday people* can also be used as an opposite of *pretentious people* or *snobs*, in which case it is anything but derogatory I would say.

If you really want to avoid 'everyday', you could replace it by expressions like, *Normally/in normal circumstances people...*. Of course, I say this trying to guess the context, so do forgive me if it is not relevant to your particular sentence.
Mm, you see *everyday people* next to *trooped* does give you the hint of a trace of contempt or irony. Could it be that it is intended to be so? If you want to make it more neutral I would find a synonym of *trooped* (like *gathered, crowded in*, etc). Or how about

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> All kinds of people trooped to the theatre to see the show.
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