Learn English – English-language equivalent to the Russian idiom, ‘Not let someone within firing distance near X’

expressionsidioms

I've been hard put to come up with the most appropriate English expression for a particular Russian one.

In Russian, an expression that roughly translates as "To not let someone come near X within a firing distance" is fairly common. I believe it's self-explanatory, so I won't going into much detail here. But here's an example of it in use:

This guy shouldn't be allowed within a firing distance near children.

What would be the best "native" English expression to convey the same idea?

Best Answer

We have the saying "within spitting distance".

. This guy shouldn't be allowed within spitting distance of X.

within spitting distance

= close, near, beside, alongside, close by, just round the corner, within sniffing distance (informal), a hop, skip and a jump away (informal) • a restaurant within spitting distance of the Tower of London

http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english-thesaurus/within-spitting-distance

I'm not sure it's the best option for your specific example.

Another possibility is "within a mile of".

. This guy shouldn't be allowed within a mile of children.

This doesn't literally mean a mile, just a long distance.

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