Country mile
Posted by Markitos on August 01, 2001
In Reply to: Country mile posted by ESC on June 17, 2001
: : : : I assume walking a mile on country terrain takes longer than in urban terrain....so a country mile is longer than you might think....can anyone confirm this?
: : : In Britain we use 'a Welsh mile'. Its means much the same and, presumably, comes from the time when country folk walked everywhere. For them a 'mile' was not too far, but for the rest of the world it was a long way!
: : "Country mile" isn't in any of my reference books. I can imagine another possible origin: the supposed habit of country people of giving optimistically imprecise directions. "Oh, it's just a mile up the road--and you can't miss it."
: It means "a long distance."
I second the definition regarding country folks optimistically giving imprecise directions. In other words, never ask a local for directions, ask someone who's got a map!