I have heard this on “24” and in some cases, in law enforcement.
‘Ima Villian is 2 clicks to the left’
ok, what am I supposed to do with this info?
could it also be “Ima is 2 clicks ahead” ?
It’s kliks, and it’s a kilometer (0.6 mile).
Thanks, I never saw the term written down… so Click was how I heard it.
Yeah, you really have to listen closely to hear those Ks.
The term is also used in the military.
I’m mildly curious as to why this question keeps coming up. The term has been in use for a long time, and I remember that when I first heard it, I inferred “kilometers” from context immediately. It just seemed “natural”, somehow.
BTW, I’ve seen it spelled “click”, “klick” and “klik”. It seems to me that “klick” is the way I’ve most commonly seen it. The AHD gives “klick” and “klik” as spellings.
I also find it curious that slang usage invented “klick” instead of the more logical “klom” to shorten the word “kilometer”, even if I DID understand “klick” from context. That a slang usage would arise is reasonable - “kilometer” is 4 syallables, and a bit much if you’re saying it a lot.
Just a guess at etomology but I belive ‘klick’ was orginally speed then used for distance. I first heard the term used for kilometers per hour. A ‘klick’ was to kilometers what knot was to miles.