A couple of months ago, the New York Times ran an article called “2023 Is the Year of the Long Walk.” The sub-heading began: “The 500-mile Camino de Santiago has inspired a host of new treks in places from Canada to Bhutan that let travelers take the slow route.” To my American ears, the word “treks” sounded off; I would have expected “hikes.” Same with the following sentences:
Google Ngram Viewer reveals that “hiking” is about ten times more common in the U.S. than “trekking.” “Hike” and “hiking” are also used in the Times article, and to some extent the “trek”s are a case of elegant variation, or using a synonym to avoid word repetition. But Ngram Viewer also reveals that “trekking” is a Not One-off Britishism that has been gaining ground on these shores:
The OED reveals that the word derives from the Dutch trekken , meaning to pull, tow, or march, and was adopted by English speakers in South Africa in the late nineteenth century. This passage is from The Young Nimrods , 1882:
rudemechanicalspress.comRude Mechanicals Press Blog | In which 1snugthejoiner writes about woodworking, publishing, house renovations, cats and Shakespe
Separated by a Common Language