Ben calls from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to say that he and his wife, who is from Germany, were taking a leisurely stroll at Valley Forge. They ended up leaving one of the trails and taking a diagonal route across a field and agreed that in German, they were moving querfeldein, or literally “diagonally into the field.” Is there an English equivalent? The English terms desire line, desire path, or social path, which are unplanned paths formed by pedestrians who repeatedly choose that route over a planned one, such as a sidewalk, aren’t exactly comparable. The phrase as the crow flies connotes a similar idea of unimpeded movement in a straight line, but it’s still not quite the same. It’s not exactly traveling catty-corner, from one corner to the opposite one, either. It’s also something like off the beaten path or off the beaten track or the trod path, but not quite. The French also have “beaten path,” as sentiers battus, and in German, it’s Trampelpfad. Other English expressions for non-established paths include cow paths, dog runs, and deer trails. In Dutch, there’s also a term that translates as “elephant path,” and in French there’s one that translates as “donkey path.” Perhaps there’s a term from orienteering that would work? This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of ““Desire Paths” and “Catty-Corner” Don’t Quite Match German “Querfeldein””
Hey there, you have A Way with Words.
Hello, Martha Grant. Ben Benson calling here from Philadelphia. How are you?
Hi, Ben. Welcome to the show.
Doing well. What’s up, Ben?
Well, you know, my wife and I were out at Valley Forge here a few weeks ago for a walk and wanted to go along one of the nice trails there. And as we left the visitor center, I must have taken a wrong turn because somehow we ended up where we couldn’t get there and needed to just kind of cut across this field.
And as doing so, we were talking about, my wife is German, and so we often talk about German words and English words and so forth. And we talked about that what we were doing was going in kreffedein in German, which literally means diagonally into the field, and thought, you know what, there is not, I can’t think of an English term that matches that.
So we’re walking, you know, trying to get to the path. I know it’s over there. There’s no path to get there. I’m not following any sort of dirt path or anything, just kind of exactly as it says, diagonally across the field. And, yeah, so I thought, let me ask the experts, how do we say that in English?
So the German was Klerfeld ein, is that right? Klerfeld ein, Q-U-E-R-F-E-L-D-E-I-N, all one word, of course.
Okay. Diagonally quer, diagonally fed, field in. Diagonally into the field.
Okay, yeah. And it’s a little bit naughty in German because they’re sticklers for rules. And so that term has a slight undertone to it. You’re not doing something right if you’re doing this.
There are a couple notions here in English that Martha and I have discussed on the program before. But they’re more about what happens when a lot of people do this after a long time. And maybe you know the notion of the desire line or the desire path or the social path. And these are paths that are created when a lot of people do this.
So this isn’t quite what you want, though.
No, because this is a completely individual, random thing, completely devoid of any other path. There is a field and you just need to get to the other side. And so you’re just going on a way that nobody other goes otherwise. So there is nothing. It’s just exactly as it says, diagonally into the field.
As the crow flies in English, we talk about, which means you… gets a little closer. But that’s usually used in terms of distance. We talk about as the crow flies where you say, well, if there weren’t any obstructions, this is how far it would be as the crow flies.
Yeah, and cleft iron does have that straight line.
Okay. Is it like you’re cutting diagonally across, like to the part that’s catty corner? Are you traveling catty corner?
Sort of. Yeah, exactly. You’re in one place on the field and you want to get to the other place and you just go in a straight line to that other location, completely devoid of paths and obstacles. And there is a straightness to it.
Well, catty corner works, but it doesn’t contain that notion of naughtiness. You want that though, right?
But that’s kind of just a subtle beat. Because catty corner perfectly works.
Yeah, catty corner is kind of right. But catty corner works specifically for corner to corner, but it’s not always corner to corner, is it, what you’re talking about?
It could be a corner. It might not. You could, yeah. It does have diagonal, so.
That’s a really good question. For some reason, I keep going towards off the beaten path, which is off the beaten track. And that’s kind of right, which is what we use in English.
The French have it as well. Sentier battue, the beaten path. And in German, I think it’s trompefade.
Trompefade, yep. Yeah, T-R-A-M-P-E-L-P-F-A-D.
Yeah. But all of those, you just basically say you didn’t take the beaten path or didn’t take the beaten track. So it’s an opposite, or the trod path in English.
Yeah, the kreafes ein assumes no path at all. And again, I keep going back to the idea of when the path is well established as being non-standard or non-established, not created out of concrete and tarmac. And these are cow path and dog runs and deer trails.
And in Dutch, they say elephant path. And in French, they say donkey path.
Elephant path, I’ve heard that. But again, I don’t know. This is one I think we’re going to have to toss out to the listeners and see if people have an idea. I’m thinking that there’s some term in orienteering when you’re not hiking along the usual trail. You’re looking at your compass, and you see a point in the distance, and you just go to it. You just go.
And I’m blanking on what it is. Oh, that’s ringing a bell, Martha, but I’d have to dig for it.
Yeah, that’s ringing a bell, and I’d have to dig for it, and it’s going to be beyond the time I have at this moment.
Well, somebody’s going to let us know.
They will, absolutely. That sounds, that’s the concept. That sounds promising, right?
If you’re in one place.
Yeah, because it is. There’s a straightness to it, and it is devoid of path. You’re just going straight like you would by a compass.
Somebody out there knows. Somebody out there knows. And we will hear from lots of them. We love a puzzle, and our listeners love them too. So thank you for tossing us this one.
If you’ve got an answer for Ben, we would love to hear it. It’s 877-929-9673 or send it an email to words@waywordradio.org.
Ben, we’re about to be deluged with possibilities. We thank you for it.
Thank you. And we’ll let you know what we come up with, okay?
Thank you. Have a great day.
Bye.
Bye-bye.
Take care. Best to you and your wife. Be well.
Bye-bye.
“Bee line” seems pretty close to what Ben is asking. Shortest line from where you are to where you want to be, straight across the field, or whatever is between you and your goal.