Just before Tony Blair's speech in front of the joint session of
congress, a news commentator cited a poll taken in the UK that had
asked the following question: "Do you trust Tony Blair any further
than you could throw him?" The question mixes a figurative distance
with a linear distance. "Further" is appropriate to the former,
"farther" to the latter, but which form do you choose within a
sentence that mixes the two senses of distance?

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Request for Question Clarification by efn-ga on 06 Sep 2003 22:23 PDT

Are you looking for a prescriptive answer based on citations of
language authorities, or a descriptive answer based on observations of
usage, or a personal opinion about what sounds good or seems
appropriate?

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Clarification of Question by nautico-ga on 07 Sep 2003 02:28 PDT

I was looking for a prescriptive answer, but now believe I already
know what it is. In this instance, "further" clearly refers back to
"trust," not ahead to "throw," and is, therefore, most appropriate and
correct. The sense of the sentence: "Do you trust Tony Blair any
further than you could throw him [farther]?" Applying the same logic:
"Could you throw him any farther than you trust him?" Unless you see
some flaw in this conclusion, I'll close this question.

Hi nautico

Before you close the question, a comment from the UK, where 'farther'
has gone f*rther out of use than in the US. This may be partly to do
with pronunciation. 'Farther' sounds just the same as 'father' for
many British speakers of English, which may have encouraged its
decline.

Interestingly, it seems from this article, that the BBC has given up
'farther' altogether:
http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/course/76-451/watts.html

Leli

Please excuse peculiar punctuation in my comment above. 
Leli

Leli, thanks for that additional info. I see no need to take this one any further.