Meaning of A STONE'S THROW - A Really Short English Lesson with Subtitles

4,468 views ・ 2019-11-13

Bob's Short English Lessons


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

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So, in English when we say
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something is a "stone's throw away" from us
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it means that it is very, very close.
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I think, because, if you were to throw a stone,
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if you were to actually pick up a stone and throw it,
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you can't actually throw a stone very far.
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So, we use the phrase that
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something is a "stone's throw away"
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to talk about things that are very close.
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So, a good example would be if someone said to me,
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"I need to go buy something at a hardware store,
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"is there one close to your house?"
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I could say, "oh there's one just a stone's throw away,"
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which would mean that there is a hardware store
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really, really close to my house.
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So, it's very much a figure of speech,
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we don't actually mean that the thing we are talking about
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is exactly the distance that I can throw a stone,
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but it does mean that something is very, very close to us.
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So, there are a lot of things that are
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just a stone's throw away from where I live.
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We have another phrase that we use,
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a "hop, skip, and a jump."
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I'm not gonna demonstrate,
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but a hop is when you just jump with both feet forward,
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and a skip is when you, just kinda jump forward on one foot.
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And then obviously, a jump, is when you jump forward
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with both feet as well.
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But we will say that things
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are just a "hop, skip, and a jump" away.
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So, where I'm standing right now, I'm actually at work,
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if I needed to go buy a pizza at a pizza place
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there is one that's just a hop, skip, and a jump away,
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which means that it's very, very close.
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Anyways, Bob the Canadian here,
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you're learning English with me.
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Have a great day.
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