Use of Block As A Unit of Distance
In North American English the term block is used as an informal unit of distance; for example, when giving directions (e.g. "It's three blocks from here.").
In British English the term is scarcely used to convey a measure of distance due to the lack of 'blocks' in most cities; it is, however, used when making short trips around a nearby road of an estate (e.g. "I'm taking the dog out for a walk around the block").
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Famous quotes containing the words block, unit and/or distance:
“Painting consumes labour not disproportionate to its effect; but a fellow will hack half a year at a block of marble to make something in stone that hardly resembles a man. The value of statuary is owing to its difficulty. You would not value the finest head cut upon a carrot.”
—Samuel Johnson (1709–1784)
“During the Suffragette revolt of 1913 I ... [urged] that what was needed was not the vote, but a constitutional amendment enacting that all representative bodies shall consist of women and men in equal numbers, whether elected or nominated or coopted or registered or picked up in the street like a coroner’s jury. In the case of elected bodies the only way of effecting this is by the Coupled Vote. The representative unit must not be a man or a woman but a man and a woman.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)
“The distance between your place in the kitchen and Miss Vollard’s place in the dining room is considerable.”
—Blake Edwards (b. 1922)