[Charlie Petty]

I'm just home from the Shot show (more about THAT later) and would like to involve the board in a discussion that began there.

I asked question: "How do you define performance"?

 

[SpecialEd]

As everything is a compromise, I define performance as: Accurate enough, right size and feel and reliable as reliable can be.

 

[Snake45]

A thing should do what it was designed to do, what it was built to do, and what the intelligent, informed, reasonable customer bought it to do. And it should do it every time, on demand.

 

[Skeptic49]

A positive variation well above the norm?

Geoff
Who notes it would apply to cars, guns, Emmy winners...

 

[spwenger]

I'm just home from the Shot show (more about THAT later) and would like to involve the board in a discussion that began there.

I asked question: "How do you define performance"?

Context? Weapon, ammo, operator, everything in life?

 

[Steve M1911A1]

Everyone seems to be defining Performance as "being of good quality or better."
But the word indicates merely a way of doing something, and that there is a quality modifier to be attached somewhere nearby. That is, the Performance of a thing can be either bad or good. It is not necessarily good.

Examples:
"The ballerina put on a good performance."
"The new Kel-Tec shotgun can pinch the user's finger, which is indicative of bad performance."
"My Colt's revolver is a good performer because it is quite accurate."
"The Kolibri pistol's performance is inadequate for personal defense."

 

[Snake45]

Just for giggles, I looked for definitions on some net dictionaries today.

Every single one of them had the word as a noun. Not one mentioned "performance" as an adjective. I thought that was interesting. :ehsmile:

 

[Steve M1911A1]

As I wrote...

 

[guntotin_fool]

Good performance is doing what it is designed for, with minimal fuss, for a long time.

 

[Snake45]

I wish Charlie would show back up and get at whatever it was he was gettin' at. :ehsmile:

 

[Charlie Petty]

how about as a verb

 

[Snake45]

how about as a verb

Verbing weirds language.

--Calvin (of Calvin & Hobbs)
:wink:

 

[Steve M1911A1]

Sorry, Charlie: Performance is not a verb form. Perform is a verb.
You asked about "performance."

 

[shep854]

I'd nutshell performance as "measurement of activity".

 

[Snake45]

Okay, I ran "high-performance" through dictionary.com and got exactly one definition, as an adjective:

high-performance

adjective
modified to give superior performance; "a high-performance car"

 

[Charlie Petty]

In the sentence, "The performance was good" what part of speech is "performance"?

Since this is a firearms forum I thought everyone would jump right to things like bullet performance, cartridge performance or gun performance...

 

[spwenger]

In the sentence, "The performance was good" what part of speech is "performance"?

Since this is a firearms forum I thought everyone would jump right to things like bullet performance, cartridge performance or gun performance...

Aha! So can I infer that you intended three questions, all about equipment and not about operators?

 

[Snake45]

In the sentence, "The performance was good" what part of speech is "performance"?

It is a noun.

So is the "Smith & Wesson Performance Center" some sort of concert venue? :ehsmile: :ehsmile: :ehsmile:

 

[Skeptic49]

So is the "Smith & Wesson Performance Center" some sort of concert venue? :ehsmile: :ehsmile: :ehsmile:

Well, some of their designs are a bit sour, but the quality is usually good.

Geoff
Who figures for $K and up it should sing with no sour notes.

 

[Snake45]

The simple noun "performance" doesn't carry any value judgement--it's like "existance." "Performance" can be good, bad, poor, outstanding, adequate, etc.

"Performance" is often used (misused?) as an adjective, the connection to the adjective form "high-performance" being either implied or inferred, or both. "Performance car parts," "performance ammo," and so forth.

I remember about 20 years ago a billboard I had to drive by every day advertising some kind of of little Ford--an Escort or something of the sort. It had stripes and mag-ish wheels and the only copy on the billboard read, in full, "IT PERFORMS." Having grown up in the glory days of Corvette Sting Rays, GTOs, SS396 Chevelles, Hemi Road Runners and the like, I always thought that copy was pretty funny, and interpreted it to mean, "It starts, stops, goes forward and backward and turns left and right on demand. Most of the time, anyway." The billboard might as well have read "A CAR." as far as I was concerned, but I think I know what they wanted people to infer from the message.