There are many idioms in English. An idiom is a phrase that we can't understand from the meaning of each word. The following are some of them. As the crow flies When a bird flies from place to place, it takes the most direct route. But when people drive, they have to follow roads and often go farther. When people give a distance "as the crow flies", they mean the shortest distance between the two points, not the distance you would have to travel by following roads. As Dan and his mum drove along the river, they could see the beach on the opposite side. Dan asked "How far is it to the beach?" "It's only about a quarter of a mile as the crow flies" his mother said. Blow hot and cold In one of Aesop's Fables, a man blows on his fingers to warm them up and then blows on his soup to cool it down. In both cases, the man is opening his mouth, but what comes out is different. If a person says one thing and later says the opposite, we say that the person is blowing hot and cold. "Is Felicia going to try out for the soccer team this year?" Stacy asked. "I don't know," Tricia replied." Last week she was saying yes, but this week she's saying no. She's really blowing hot and cold." Break the ice Nowadays people use the phrase to refer to ending an awkward silence by beginning a conversation. It was the first day of summer camp. The four girls began to make their beds in silence. None of the girls knew each other, and no one knew what to say. Finally, one of them broke the ice by saying" Hey, where's everybody from?" Bury the hatchet In native American culture, when two nations agreed to end their war, they buried the hatchet. So to bury the hatchet is to make peace with someone else. Colin could not excuse his sister for breaking his tennis racket. Finally, his sister said, "Colin, can't we bury the hatchet?" What does "as the crow flies" mean?
In the smoothest way. In a straight line. By plane. At top speed.