idioms meaning "to avoid"

[Olenek]

Hi everybody,

I've found some phrases with the sense "to avoid, to keep away from":

To give someone a wide berth ;
To keep/ stay/ steer clear of someone;
To keep out of someone’s way;
To run a mile from someone.

Are these phrases common in your country?

Or do you use other phrases with the same sense?

Thanks for all your replies!

[5jj]

I've found some phrases with the sense "to avoid, to keep away from":

To give someone a wide berth ;
To keep/ stay/ steer clear of someone;
To keep out of someone’s way;
To run a mile from someone.

Are these phrases common in your country?

I hear/use the first three. I have heard the fourth, but I don't think it's very common.

ps. Until my silly mistake was pointed out, I had written 'third' where the underlined 'fourth, now is. Sorry if this caused confusion.

[freezeframe]

Hi everybody,

I've found some phrases with the sense "to avoid, to keep away from":

To give someone a wide berth ;
To keep/ stay/ steer clear of someone;
To keep out of someone’s way;
To run a mile from someone.

Are these phrases common in your country?

Or do you use other phrases with the same sense?

Thanks for all your replies!

I'd use 2 or 3 (with stay, not with keep). Usually I'd just say "stay away from".

"I try to stay away from her as far as possible."

[Raymott]

"I wouldn't come within 'cooee' of him." A 'cooee' is an Australian outback call like a yodel.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7xYn1OTUUg&feature=related

[5jj]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7xYn1OTUUg&feature=related

So unlike the home life of our own dear Queen.

[BobK]

I hear/use the first three. I have heard the third, but I don't think it's very common.

[fourth?] In fact, I've heard 'run a mile' used, but normally with no 'from-object'. For example 'If any woman mentions settling down, he runs a mile'.

Also if you wouldn't go near something (foul/foetid/dirty/tainted...) you 'wouldn't touch it with a bargepole'. Bargepoles are not a very common feature of modern life (though I have used one, many moons ago), but the expression is still used.

b

[5jj]

[fourth?]

Thanks. I've changed it.

[Olenek]

Also if you wouldn't go near something (foul/foetid/dirty/tainted...) you 'wouldn't touch it with a bargepole'. Bargepoles are not a very common feature of modern life (though I have used one, many moons ago), but the expression is still used.

Can we use the phrase referred to a person (for example, we don't like someone very much)?

[BobK]

Can we use the phrase referred to a person (for example, we don't like someone very much)?

Yes, but it's quite extreme - so I wouldn't say it fits if you just 'don't like someone very much'. You have to loathe them, or despise them intensely.

b

[Mr_Ben]

It also connotes (a lack of) physical attraction. Why else would you be touching someone with something?