Big flock of low-flying birds going over. Opportunist throws stone at them. Usually, he hits nothing; occasionally, he kills a bird; very very rarely, he kills two birds with one stone. That is, he gets double results from one effort. Hence, in general, to solve two problems with one effort.
Something a stone’s throw away is close enough to hit with a thrown stone - not very far away.
Crows are reputed to fly in straight lines between places of corvine interest. So as the crow flies is the shortest distance between two points. Bees are also supposed to do it, hence making a bee-line for something.
(If you ask me, it should be as the pigeon flies, but it seems less poetic.)
I thought I was giving you the origin - from the days when people threw stones at things rather more frequently than we do now.
But are you looking for a specific origin story, with a named stone-thrower? None of my usual references give such a thing.
This Website gives credit to one Henry Fielding from a quote from The Universal Gallant:
This is better than my hopes! This is killing two birds with one stone.
So when know it was likely in popular use at least back into the early 1700’s. (The Universal Gallant was a comedy Fielding wrote and produced in early 1735.)
Although I do not know the sources this website used, it also provides interesting insight into the expression:
A proverb can give us all this information and more in one short, sweet statement. Comparing these old adages provides an interesting illustration of what is both different, and similar, from country to country. Take for example, Japan and the USA. It seems that both countries consider it to be a common belief that "Tonari no shibafu wa aoi," or, "The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence." It also appears that the two are in agreement that it is a good thing to "Isseki ni cho," or "Kill two birds with one stone."
The fact that two cultures on opposite sides of the world should have the same expression, and that it involves stone throwing, tends to lead credence to Grant’s assertion that the expression comes from a time when stone throwing was a bit more common for everyday uses than it is today.
[quote author=tcward link=board=idiom;num=1040681519;start=0#5 date=12/24/02 at 10:24:46]This Website gives credit to one Henry Fielding from a quote from The Universal Gallant
The OED trawls up an earlier quotation: from Thomas Hobbes’ The Questions Concerning Liberty, Necessity, and Chance, published 1656.
Dgale, in hunting down two birds with one stone, I happened upon an obsolete expression that means the same thing, which you may care to resuscitate since it’s kinder to animals: to stop up two gaps with one bush.
tcward - Yeah, that quote does seem to affirm that stone-throwing was pretty general world-wide.
Grant - I just needed a little more information is all - a specific story, like you said.
I could try to use your alternate expression, although it doesn’t have an American English rhythm and I might just sound rather pretentious. But it is animal-friendly. :)
[quote author=tcward link=board=idiom;num=1040681519;start=0#11 date=01/06/03 at 19:48:15]
Not if it’s an ostrich thigh! Have you seen the size o’ them suckers?
But if it’s a bird bone, it may be too brittle for dogs, like chicken bones (at least the cooked ones). I don’t know from ostrich bones, but I do like the Ostrichburger at Fudrduckers’s. Less cholesterol and fat than turkey yet it looks and tastes like beef. You have to cook it rare because there’s not enough fat in it to cook it well done without it being as dry as a hockey puck. I usually load up with the 2/3 pounder—no fries needed with that ‘cause there won’t be any room for them! :D
I’d might as well feed two dogs with one bone. I have two young pups at home, and if I give them two bones (or toys, for that matter), they’ll ignore one and fight over the other one. I’ve given up buying two of anything for them.
Entertain two dogs with one bone doesn’t have quite the same ring to it, though.
If you want to really be animal friendly, just say two for the price of one, which is more appropriate to our modern commercial system.
It seems an African Prince was educated in England where he developed a fine regard for democratic principles that complmeneted his own strong character.
Shortly after he graduated and returned, his father died and he became king. He determined to apply the fine principles and be a good and honest leader of rather than over his people.
His first action was to do away with a symbol of previous times, the ancient historical ebony throne, which was stored in the attic.
Sadly he died that nght when the heavy throne fell threw the roof onto his bed. It proves that people who live in grass houses shouldn’t stow thrones.
BTW, I tried the bison/basin joke on a couple of friends. There was a definite lag time of about 2 full seconds before either got it. One thought it was, um, not funny; one thought it was very "cute."
