Apparently, ‘A Stone’s Throw’ Supposed To Be Metaphor

“It just never occurred to any of us to take the term at anything but face value,” said Academy spokeswoman Yirga Muhu.

Jerusalem, May 9 – Linguistic researchers at the Academy of the Hebrew Language were stunned this week to discover that the common English expression “a stone’s throw” denotes a short span of distance between two locations, and is only meant figuratively. The researchers must now revise their assessments of millions of occurrences of the phrase in various contexts, and revise their translation.

A representative of the Academy told reporters that one member of the staff had overheard American academics using the phrase in a way that could only be understood metaphorically, and, upon returning to the Academy, asked his colleagues to help him look into its origins. The representative said that upon finding out that living under the constant threat of stone-throwing by Palestinians is not a universal experience, the Academy realized it had to revisit its assumptions.

“It just never occurred to any of us to take the term at anything but face value,” said Academy spokeswoman Yirga Muhu. “It was patently obvious to us, at least, that the phrase referred to a phenomenon well within the realm of our everyday experience, and it never occurred to us that it might go beyond the literal.”

So immersed in the reality of stones getting thrown were several researchers who live in or near Jerusalem that they had assumed the expression refers to a specific distance range between twenty and forty meters. “I drive into the city everyday, and there are Palestinians hurling rocks at the cars on the road from about thirty meters away at Jerusalem’s southeastern outskirts,” said Dr. Eti Molog. “It was clear to me, and I would guess to everyone else who drives along that stretch of road, exactly what distance is conveyed by the turn of phrase. Kind of a revelation that it doesn’t have to refer to a literal stone’s throw.”

The Academy has had prior trouble with English terminology that refers to experiences different from the Israeli milieu. Palestinian linguists and students have also been thrown off by certain English phrases, among them “stoner” to refer to a marijuana user; “resistance” as a concept in physics; human rights as applying even to Jews; and the word “peace” when used to signify a situation in which parties to a conflict have reconciled their differences and live in harmony, as opposed to the mere absence of conflict because Arabs have successfully annihilated whoever was opposing them, or because they are biding their time until such annihilation is feasible.