Further vs. Farther

This oldie was actually lost in a big hdd crash 3 months ago.

Thanks. With this particular wall, the ratio is so off because someone was actually linking directly to the ZIP file from off-site. I was getting a lot of downloads and hardly any views or favs. It seems to have stopped since, though.

Being the bonehead English geek that I am, I cannot help myself but to answer you. lol

Farther is used when referring to something physically distant ... think that it has the word 'far' in it, so something physical is 'far' away. Further is used when referring to something figuratively or metaphorically distant.

For example: The kids keep asking from the back seat of the car while on a long road trip: "How much farther is it?" One would naturally answer in terms of physical distance: "5 more miles", for instance.

Then, after pestering their parents for two of those miles with the same question, Dad responds: "If you keep pestering me further, then no gets ice cream when we get there." Further here is not physical, but figurative.

Voila! My work here is done. lol

Up until a while ago they were just interchangeable. But in more recent times, hardcore grammarians have decided to do what they do best and impose stricter rules. For the most part, they want you to use farther to talk about physical distance and further to talk about metaphorical/figurative distance.