Problem Solving

Is anyone else bothered by idioms like "twice as close" or "twice as small"? I understand what these phrases mean and how they're used to indicate the inverses of "twice as far" and "twice as big", but they still bother me. If (A) is two miles away and (B) is one mile away, (A) is twice as far away as (B), but (B) is 50% closer than (A), not "twice as close".

If distance in miles is the metric for "closeness", how can "twice" and "50%" mean the same thing?

Twice as = 2 x
Half of = 0.5 x
Twice refers to double or two times. 'Twice as small' cannot mean logic because it is an oxymoron like 'deafening silence'. The right usage for 'inverse of twice' would be 'half of' or 'halved'
So (A) is twice as far as (B)
(B) is half as far as (A)