One of those words that expresses something

Okay, so there are tons of posts about words in Japanese or Finnish, but in Bangla there is

‘মেঠোপথ’ meṭhopoth: A path running through an open field formed by frequent movement of people (Samsad Bengali-English dictionary, 2nd rev. ed)

which points so clearly to the fundamental planning principle that says, lay out the public space, then wait for people to walk through it, then build the paths in response to where they walk. (Or, in teaching: be ready to change the syllabus when the students see something in the course that you don’t…)

The next time you see one of those shortcuts-through-a-bit-of-urban-landscaping that drives the local council completely mad, but allows folk to run for the bus and actually catch it; or one of those compacted ice trenches running across a public park in deep winter snow that has nothing at all to do with where the paved path actually is; think of this word.

Mind you, in Bangladesh the mental images it calls up are rather different.