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Military Jargon: What Distance is a "Click" ?

post #1 of 13
9/11/06 at 5:00pm
Thread Starter 
I've seen countless movies where military talk about such and such a target being so many "clicks" away. No one has ever been able to tell me what distance a "click" is.

Anyone?
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post #2 of 13
9/11/06 at 5:22pm

Re: Military Jargon: What Distance is a "Click" ?

1 kilometer.
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post #3 of 13
9/11/06 at 5:37pm

Re: Military Jargon: What Distance is a "Click" ?

Alittle more detail:


U.S. military slang for the kilometer (about 0.621 mile). Also spelled klick or klik. This unit became popular during the Vietnam War, but it was invented by U.S. troops in Germany during the 1950s. Occasionally it was used as a non-metric unit equal to 1000 yards (0.9144 kilometer).

BTW..thanks for asking Arthur. I spent 3 years in the Corps, 1 in Nam...and never had a clue what a "click" was.
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post #4 of 13
9/11/06 at 5:44pm

Re: Military Jargon: What Distance is a "Click" ?

I think the term "CLICK" came from the fact that 1 click on the standard distance measuring caliper was 1 kilometer.
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post #5 of 13
9/13/06 at 2:19am
Thread Starter 

Re: Military Jargon: What Distance is a "Click" ?

Thanks to all. Especially to Henry Gale.

Now I know it is either one kilo or 1,000 yards, depending on what they want it to be in any particular setting
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post #6 of 13
9/13/06 at 10:24pm

Re: Military Jargon: What Distance is a "Click" ?

urban dictionary is good for stuff like this.

CJ
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post #7 of 13
9/13/06 at 11:24pm

Re: Military Jargon: What Distance is a "Click" ?

I would've thought by now it always means 1 kilometre. Is 1,000 yards as a measure ever used anymore, if ever?

Also, at least to me, "1 kilo" would mean a kilogram (which is about 2.2 lbs); when referring to distance it's either "1km", sometimes "1k", and if in the military the point of this thread, "1 click".
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post #8 of 13
9/14/06 at 2:05am
Thread Starter 

Re: Military Jargon: What Distance is a "Click" ?

Yee-Ming

I was mostly teasing about 1,000 yards, but when you are dealing with Hollywood, anything is possible.

Yeah, I thought about using "kilo" after I wrote it but figured that for this purpose it would pass muster

Next time I'll use 1km.
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post #9 of 13
9/15/06 at 12:30am

Re: Military Jargon: What Distance is a "Click" ?

Arthur, yards is a Imperial measurement, metres a Metric measurement, and their lengths differ.
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post #10 of 13
9/15/06 at 8:50am

Re: Military Jargon: What Distance is a "Click" ?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Yee-Ming
Also, at least to me, "1 kilo" would mean a kilogram

That's correct in everyday terminology (technically not).

Just to refresh everyone's memory...


10^n Prefiks Symbol
24 yotta Y
21 zetta Z
18 exa E
15 peta P
12 tera T
9 giga G
6 mega M
3 kilo k
2 hekto h
1 deka da

−1 desi d
−2 centi c
−3 milli m
−6 mikro µ
−9 nano n
−12 pico p
−15 femto f
−18 atto a
−21 zepto z
−24 yocto y
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post #11 of 13
9/15/06 at 3:15pm

Re: Military Jargon: What Distance is a "Click" ?

*ahem*

"deci" not desi
"micro" not mikro

Prefix

 Symbol Multiplier

 Exponential
Yotta

 Y

 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000

 1024
Zetta

 Z

 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000

 1021
Exa

 E

 1,000,000,000,000,000,000

 1018
Peta

 P

 1,000,000,000,000,000

 1015
Tera

 T

 1,000,000,000,000

 1012
Giga

 G

 1,000,000,000

 109
Mega

 M

 1,000,000

 106
Kilo

 K

 1,000

 103
Hecto

 H

 100

 102
Deca

 Da

 10

 101


1

 100
deci

 d

 0.1

 10¯1
centi

 c

 0.01

 10¯2
milli

 m

 0.001

 10¯3
micro

 µ

 0.000001

 10¯6
nano

 n

 0.000000001

 10¯9
pico

 p

 0.000000000001

 10¯12
femto

 f

 0.000000000000001

 10¯15
atto

 a

 0.000000000000000001

 10¯18
zepto

 z

 0.000000000000000000001

 10¯21
yocto

 y

 0.000000000000000000000001

 10¯24


Note that prefix above the unit are in Upper Case and below the unit are in lower case. So, 20Mg (Megagrams) is VERY different than 20mg (milligrams).

Sorry...could not resist! I am Canadian and have a thing for the Metric system.
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post #12 of 13
9/15/06 at 4:16pm

Re: Military Jargon: What Distance is a "Click" ?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Scott McGillivray
*ahem*

"deci" not desi
"micro" not mikro

Actually both are correct. Depends on the language...October, Oktober.

Some of the prefixes are in uppercase but some are not. Kilo is k, not K (as in km, not Km). The ones I listed are correct; K, H and Da are incorrect.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Scott McGillivray
*Sorry...could not resist! I am Canadian and have a thing for the Metric system.

I'm European, and the correct term is SI, not metric.
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post #13 of 13
9/15/06 at 9:03pm

Re: Military Jargon: What Distance is a "Click" ?

When referring to the numbers that are associated with Mega, Giga and Tera, it's "million", "billion" and "trillion". What's the word that's associated with the next one up, Peta? I vaguely recall a "quadrillion". Not that any country's GNP or national budget/debt will approach a quadrillion yet, but sooner or later... and after all supercomputers are already in the "petaflop" range.
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