Definitions

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  • noun Plural form of desire path.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • Urban planners call these “desire paths,” well-worn ribbons of foot traffic in the terrain that are “a consequence of the usage of the shortest route to a destination.”

    My Tinder Decade Allison P. Davis 2022

Comments

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  • A term in landscape architecture used to describe a path that isn’t designed but rather is worn casually away by people finding the shortest distance between two points.

    — Gaston Bachelard, The Poetics of Space (via uselog)

    September 21, 2008

  • I love this inspired word. 'tis a super word for something that for me needed a word for it. Ta, sarra!

    September 21, 2008

  • There are two next to one of my bus routes that, I'd imagine, predate the blissfully futile THIS IS NOT A PUBLIC RIGHT OF WAY signs next to each :)

    September 21, 2008

  • also referred to as desire line...

    September 21, 2008

  • I suppose mentally I've always referred to these as sheep trails because of where I grew up.

    September 21, 2008

  • More comments on desire path.

    September 21, 2008

  • And probably KEEP OFF THE GRASS signs too, sarra.

    September 21, 2008

  • cool, Darqueau!

    September 24, 2008

  • At first glance, I thought I read "desire pants"

    May 3, 2009