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

So, in English when we say

something is a "stone's throw away" from us

it means that it is very, very close.

I think, because, if you were to throw a stone,

if you were to actually pick up a stone and throw it,

you can't actually throw a stone very far.

So, we use the phrase that

something is a "stone's throw away"

to talk about things that are very close.

So, a good example would be if someone said to me,

"I need to go buy something at a hardware store,

"is there one close to your house?"

I could say, "oh there's one just a stone's throw away,"

which would mean that there is a hardware store

really, really close to my house.

So, it's very much a figure of speech,

we don't actually mean that the thing we are talking about

is exactly the distance that I can throw a stone,

but it does mean that something is very, very close to us.

So, there are a lot of things that are

just a stone's throw away from where I live.

We have another phrase that we use,

a "hop, skip, and a jump."

I'm not gonna demonstrate,

but a hop is when you just jump with both feet forward,

and a skip is when you, just kinda jump forward on one foot.

And then obviously, a jump, is when you jump forward

with both feet as well.

But we will say that things

are just a "hop, skip, and a jump" away.

So, where I'm standing right now, I'm actually at work,

if I needed to go buy a pizza at a pizza place

there is one that's just a hop, skip, and a jump away,

which means that it's very, very close.

Anyways, Bob the Canadian here,

you're learning English with me.

Have a great day.