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Comment by pmiller2 | Hacker News Reader

I don't mean to be "that guy" correcting someone's English, but you don't seem to be a native speaker, so I hope this will be well received.

The actual phrase should be "as the crow flies." If you say "bird distance," you might get confused looks from people.

Just trying to help. :-)

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I like "bird distance". I knew immediately what was meant, and it was more succinct than "as the crow flies"

In Swedish we say ”the bird way”, as in ”it’s x km going the bird way”.

In German we say "the airline" airline is already taken in English.

Air-line, I like it.

Yeah, me too. I didn’t even look twice. And I’m not sure I agree with the advice to use a tired expression rather than something more original.

But how to know if the bird is flying or driving?

Or if it gets lost along the way. And who says they actually fly in straight lines?

Or swimming :)

And is it African or European?

Laden or unladen?

No, he said it was a crow, not a swallow

I agree, I move that we change the idiom and that pmiller2's remarks be stricken from the record.

In Croatian we use "air distance"... I'm going to be smug about it's more understandable than both (even though I like the Game Of Thrones association when ever I hear "as the crow flies")

The correct term for this measure of the geodesic is orthodromic distance and is guaranteed to get confused looks from people, which is often my intention.

You may then proceed to explain this refers to the distance by camel.

Telling people the shortest path is a great circle is also fun.

Me: 'The shortest distance is a straight line'

You: Except on a globe, it is a great circle.

Me: 'Nobody said on the surface. I'm tunneling through.'

It's more like that on the surface of a sphere, great circles are lines. That's how it's interpreted in spherical geometry.

You're right to gently correct here.

That said, "bird distance" is going in my lexicon.

I read this more as Charlie Day joining hn and I think I prefer it that way.

Honestly, I prefer "bird distance".

I wish this entire thread of replies was an FP of its own. “Slang terms for linear distance through history” (arxiv.org) or something :)

In German, it's "Luftlinie", which literally means "air line" (while airline is "Fluglinie" ("flight line") or "Fluggesellschaft" ("flight company")).

most likely from French "distance à vol d'oiseau" (or "distance d'oiseau" in short)

I'm a french speaker so I also got the reference right away, didn't realize this was not as common in English

I assume the exact details of "bird distance" is found within "bird law".

No, the correct term is “geodesic”.

Bird distance. Not just crows fly straight.

as long as it's not these birds. they'll never get there. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4f_1_r80RY

Don't want to be that guy - then don't.

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