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18:08
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Q: What is the word for a path that is made naturally by the action of people walking?

kmpI remember one day, when I was supposed to be at school, hanging out at a friends house and watching an episode of Call My Bluff and there was a word that meant something like: A path that is made (e.g. across a field) by people consistently walking along the same way For example something ...

word-choice single-word-requests
RegDwigнt
RegDwigнt
It's the trail we blaze.
Robusto
Robusto
It's usually called "the beaten path" — not track, as some would have it, though that would work.
Andrew Leach
Andrew Leach
Note: Call My Bluff took single words from OED and provided two spoof and one true definition for a team to guess which was correct. The answer will be a single, obscure word (and I've no idea what!)
Tim Lymington supports Monica
Tim Lymington supports Monica
Both the picture and the definition seem to be of -er- a path. Some paths are later paved.
jk.
jk.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Call_My_Bluff
Azad
Azad
18:08
@kmp you didn't finish your story. The suspense is killing me. Have you seen the word finally here or not? Which one was it? :)
Daniel R Hicks
Daniel R Hicks
Footpath ......
Edwin Ashworth
Edwin Ashworth
@Robusto I'm with the apparent majority Google ngrams suggest: 'beaten track_.
Robusto
Robusto
@EdwinAshworth: The apparent British majority. While close in either case, my side of the pond prefers path. In any event, not worth the candle to argue the point.
Edwin Ashworth
Edwin Ashworth
@Robusto Check again. 'English', not their 'British English' database.
@Robusto Why isn't it allowable to take the overall results and say that these imply an overall preference for 'the beaten track'?
Robusto
Robusto
@EdwinAshworth: You are trying to draw precise distinctions from a tool that is anything but precise, the database of which is extremely messy on the BrE side.
Edwin Ashworth
Edwin Ashworth
18:08
@Robusto Better than a complete lack of evidence. As for the 'British side', 'off the beaten track' is the only variant I'd come across.
Robusto
Robusto
@EdwinAshworth: So bad evidence is worth more than no evidence?
Edwin Ashworth
Edwin Ashworth
@Robusto It's self-appointed judges who worry me the most.
Robusto
Robusto
@EdwinAshworth And who appointed you? Nobody I know.
Edwin Ashworth
Edwin Ashworth
@Robusto Where have I come out with a statement like 'It's usually called "the beaten path" — not track, as some would have it' without any evidence whatsoever? I try to be very careful not to make unsubstantiated claims.
Robusto
Robusto
@EdwinAshworth: It's a comment not an answer, still less is it a peer-reviewed academic work. You're like the guy who, when hearing someone else say, "I went blue from the cold," who says , censoriously, "You weren't really blue."

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