The word "youths" always seems to be used in a negative sense (e.g. "Drunken youths", "Disaffected youths"), and our church has now adopted the more politically-correct sounding phrase "young people".
Does the word "youths" have an inherently negative connotation?
Best Answer
There is no negative connotation at all to 'youth' or 'youths'.
However,if people only ever use it in the negative contexts you describe, then it may gain that negative connotation, pushings things over the euphemism waterfall.