4 ms·
> 5k is not a distance. 5km, 5 thousand feet or yards are. I answered that question already, try reading my earlier comment. And if you think it's weird, take
by Jtsummers 10mo ago
> 5k is not a distance. 5km, 5 thousand feet or yards are.
I answered that question already, try reading my earlier comment. And if you think it's weird, take it up with people from last century when they started using that abbreviation.
- synecdoche 10mo agoFor an international audience it's ambiguous. 5 k of what could one reasonably wonder.
- jimnotgym 10mo agoEven with context? Even with a link? I mean I feel annoyed every time I see a new technology on hn, only to find it is another js framework after clicking the link, finding it says nothing useful, then typing it into Wikipedia. I don't typically come on and complain about it.
- roryirvine 10mo agoIt's in relation to a run, though - what else could it mean but distance? Steps? Maybe, but I've genuinely never heard of that being used as a goal when running. Seconds? Again, it's a possibility, but it'd be more usual to say something like "1h23-ish" - and, besides, that'd be a really odd time to pick. And even in the UK, where many people still measure longer distances in miles, I've never heard anyone talk about a run being however many thousand feet or yards or chains or whatever. All of the first page results for a USA-based google search for "5k" are running-related too, so it can't really be all that ambiguous there either.