избитая дорожка

• ПРОТОРЕННАЯ ДОРОЖКА; ИЗБИТАЯ ДОРОГА <ДОРОЖКА> all coll, occas. iron

[NP; fixed WO]

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⇒ the usual, familiar, conventional way:

- the beaten track <path>;

- the well-worn path;

- tried-and-true methods;

|| не идти по проторённой дорожке{{}}≈ stay off the beaten track <path>. Cf. take the road less traveled (from Robert Frost's poem "The Road Not Taken," 1915).