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twice as close idiom!!

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twice as close idiom!!

by Ozlemg » Wed Jul 27, 2011 7:24 am
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?
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by pavand » Sat Sep 10, 2011 11:04 am
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)
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by Ian Stewart » Mon Sep 12, 2011 1:13 am
Ozlemg wrote: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.
They should bother you - they make no sense. "Twice" means "two times", in the sense of multiplication, so one thing cannot be "twice as small" as another. We say 'half as big' in English, not 'twice as small'. So they aren't 'idioms' at all. I have seen them used in a few very poorly written prep company questions that have been posted on this forum (not sure where they were from), and I only hope those companies aren't producing Verbal materials.
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