Advertisement

French phrase of the Day: A vol d'oiseau

The Local France
The Local France - [email protected]
French phrase of the Day: A vol d'oiseau
Photo: Annie Spratt/Unsplash/Nicolas Raymond"

This little birdy may become very important in your life over the coming months.

Advertisement

Why do I need to know à vol d’oiseau?

It's a fairly common phrase at all times, but it's taken on a new significance for daily life in France in recent days.

What does it mean?

It means 'as the bird flies' more usually expressed in English as 'as the crow flies' so really means a journey distance that is measured directly, rather than measuring the distance travelled along a road or path.

In France the bird type is non specific un oiseau (a bird) rather than un corbeau (a crow) and no, we have no idea why crows are used in the English phrase - do they fly particularly straight? Do they have the bird equivalent of sat nav? Feel free to email us and explain.

Advertisement

You are likely to hear à vol d'oiseau a lot at the moment, because of new rules on travel that mean people in France can only travel 100km from their homes unless they have a form for essential travel. But crucially the distance from home is measured à vol d'oiseau, rather than the distance you would travel by road/rail/bike path.

100km from Poitiers measured 'as the bird flies'.

So some recent headlines on the subject have included:

Distance de 100km à vol d'oiseau: quels sont les outils pour calculer la zone? - Distance of 100km as the crow flies; what are the tools for calculating the area?

Comment calculer le périmètre de 100 km à vol d’oiseau autour de chez vous? - How to calculate the limit of 100km as the crow flies from your home.

Crows

Far from being useful birds with a good sense of direction, crows have a very different place in the French language.

In French un corbeau can also mean a poison pen letter writer, or anyone sending anonymous threats or making malicious accusations.

It refers to the 1943 French film Le Corbeau which features a small town struck by a plague of anonymous letter writing.

In more recent popular culture, if you have seen the Netflix documentary Grégory about the murder case of four-year-old Grégory Villemin (and if you haven't seen it, we highly recommend it) you will see numerous references to le corbeau who targets the family with anonymous letters.

 

More

Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected].
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.

Please log in to leave a comment.

Anonymous 2020/05/13 11:40
The earliest known citation of the phrase, which explicitly defines its meaning, comes in The London Review Of English And Foreign Liturature, by W. Kenrick - 1767:

See Also