I just googled for "further" and "farther" to look at the relative popularity of each.
The very first hit for "farther"
www.lessontutor.com/eesfarther.html
suggests a rule not only for the figurative use of "further", which is fair enough, but also suggests that it cannot be used for physical distance. Take a look if you don't believe me.
Now, I don't pretend to know it all but please tell me that I've just read a load of complete manure or I shall enter into an angst-ridden state of existential doubt. I mean, it's the very first search result for "farther" so this is being peddled big-time. It's manure, steaming and odorous, isn't it? Or is this an AmE thing?
Farther Time
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Well, Juan, I would have been inclined to agree with you but I checked the Cobuild Concordance and Collocations Sampler and there does appear to be something in what they say. Of the (albeit random) 40 concordances it gives with further, not one refers to physical distance. Of course, had it shown more than 40, some different examples might have been thrown up, but it's probably not coincidence.
Having said that, I think while one might be more (far more?) likely to hear It's farther down the road, I wouldn't rule out the other entirely or mark it wrong. I still reckon we're talking tendencies rather than hard and fast rules.
Having said that, I think while one might be more (far more?) likely to hear It's farther down the road, I wouldn't rule out the other entirely or mark it wrong. I still reckon we're talking tendencies rather than hard and fast rules.
I would have sworn both meant the same thing, but, from the dictionary:
[Middle English, variant (influenced by far, far), of further; see further.]
Usage Note: Since the Middle English period many writers have used farther and further interchangeably. According to a relatively recent rule, however, farther should be reserved for physical distance and further for nonphysical, metaphorical advancement. Thus 74 percent of the Usage Panel prefers farther in the sentence If you are planning to drive any farther than Ukiah, you'd better carry chains, and 64 percent prefers further in the sentence We won't be able to answer these questions until we are further along in our research. In many cases, however, the distinction is not easy to draw. If we speak of a statement that is far from the truth, for example, we should also allow the use of farther in a sentence such as Nothing could be farther from the truth. But Nothing could be further from the truth is so well established as to seem a fixed expression.
[Middle English, variant (influenced by far, far), of further; see further.]
Usage Note: Since the Middle English period many writers have used farther and further interchangeably. According to a relatively recent rule, however, farther should be reserved for physical distance and further for nonphysical, metaphorical advancement. Thus 74 percent of the Usage Panel prefers farther in the sentence If you are planning to drive any farther than Ukiah, you'd better carry chains, and 64 percent prefers further in the sentence We won't be able to answer these questions until we are further along in our research. In many cases, however, the distinction is not easy to draw. If we speak of a statement that is far from the truth, for example, we should also allow the use of farther in a sentence such as Nothing could be farther from the truth. But Nothing could be further from the truth is so well established as to seem a fixed expression.
When I searched American English section of the the CCCS it threw up this example:
A little further south, grafitti on the tarmac testifies... - physical
And when I searched Br/Am for examples of farther, I found Passenger Rails Slip Farther Behind - i.e. figurative
These seem to be the exceptions, and suggest that the farther=physical, further=figurative principle is a strong tendency rather than a rule.
A little further south, grafitti on the tarmac testifies... - physical
And when I searched Br/Am for examples of farther, I found Passenger Rails Slip Farther Behind - i.e. figurative
These seem to be the exceptions, and suggest that the farther=physical, further=figurative principle is a strong tendency rather than a rule.