So, I’ve heard “over yonder”, and I’ve heard “as the crow flies”, and I live in an area where neither of those phrases are uncommon to hear… But I don’t believe I’ve ever heard them both put together like that.
“Over yonder” is a casual phrase that’s used to indicate the general direction or location of a place or thing, usually accompanied by a finger pointing in a rough direction.
“As the crow flies” specifically refers to the shortest distance between two points, rather than travel distance. Like, “the distance between New York and Washington DC is 231 miles by road, or 204 miles, as the crow flies.”
“Over yonder” already implies that we are referring to a straight line from A to B, so it would be redundant to add “as the crow flies” after it.
So like, are people really putting those two phrases together like that? If so, I must protest. /angryface
You could preface it with a location and distance: “Buckingham Palace is about 3 parsecs over yonder as the crow flies,” the Bajoran said, waving a limb vaguely. “Or perhaps a Romulan Warbird instead of a crow.”
I could see it making sense in combination with a “you can’t get there from here” type of situation. Someone asks, “Where is ____?” and the response is “over yonder as the crow flies”, because it is literally in that direction, but since there are no direct roads to actually get there you must travel in a different direction first, which is why “as the crow flies” needs to be specified.
I’ve never heard “as the crow flies” used that way. It is always used to talk about distance, not direction.
I’ve heard it used that way - basically taken to mean “It’s over that way in a straight line” but then usually followed by directions on how to get there via a twisty route because there’s no direct path there.
I’ve heard “over yonder as the crow flies”, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard “over yonder as the crow the flies”.
huh, I’ve only ever heard it not attached to “over yonder”. for me it’s just a modifier to distance and direction to indicate you don’t account for terrain. “it’s about 5 miles south as the crow flies, but that river might give you hell”
It’s a perfectly cromulent sentence in my neck of the woods lol.
If I have two wolves in me, do I travel twice as fast as the wolf runs? Or perhaps I never tire because they take shifts? Can’t get lost because the second one handles navigation?
