Performant: Stop making up words

People need to stop saying "performant." If it's a word at all, it's a noun synonymous with "performer," like an actor. Even if the construct was a real word, it wouldn't indicate whether it's a negative or positive thing. Something can perform well or poorly... this word would only describe that it performs.

Technologists are silly. :)

5 Comments

  • It sounds like a perfectly cromulent word to me.

  • Don't fight it Jeff.

    I use to fight it, but it's just not worth it.

  • related: http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=6481

  • I can't not fight it. It's the burden of having an academic background in English and not CS. :)

  • Performant is a French adjective meaning powerful, competitive, successful or high-yield.

    It has migrated into common usage at Microsoft, likely via a native French speaker who assumed it was a valid English word since no one every corrected him/her.

    Although I also dislike invented words, I tend to go easier on this one. English has traditionally imported from other languages when an English word doesn't neatly encapsulate the writer's meaning (schadenfreude is an excellent example). Performant in IT seems to imply good bang for the buck.

    My current pet peeves are the unnecessary fillers "basically", "simply", and "go ahead" in technical demos.



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