"to persist data"

[Peter Neilson]

Ev,

Persist is from "per" (about or around) and "sistere" (to stand). One 
can cause something to persist by not destroying it or by taking action 
to preserve it. Or the object can persist through its own nature.

The verb is indeed intransitive, and should not be used in a transitive 
fashion any more than we might transiate the verb "to be." A similar 
confusion already exists, however, between the words in the pairs "sit" 
and "set" and (especially) "lie" and "lay". Our language contains
ample traps for the careless and the ill-advised.

I would venture that the correct wording should work something like this:

  - The session persists the data. ==> The session uses persistent data.

  - The program persists the between session data in files
    in /tmp/pursistor. ==> The makes the data persistent by storing it
    in /tmp/pursistor between sessions.

Let it go for a bit. It's likely that a day of relaxation will reveal
several alternative presentations that contain the exact meaning without
puncturing the eardrum.



Evelyn Lee Barney wrote:
> 
> Yes, thank you.  But I still think it's an awful transitive verb!  Hurts my virtual ears to think of it.  But, it looks as if I'd best get used to it.
> 
> Ev
>