What does "a far cry" mean?

[Mahmud]

Test No. incompl/inter-43 "A Crying Shame", question 9

George is now 70 and he reckons that working conditions for the average office clerk today are a ......... cry from when he first started work.

(a) distant
(b) long
(c) far
(d) further

Test No. incompl/inter-43 "A Crying Shame", answer 9

George is now 70 and he reckons that working conditions for the average office clerk today are a far cry from when he first started work.

Correct answer: (c) far

Your answer was: n/a
_________________________

What does "a far cry" mean?
Thanks

Mahmud

[Torsten]

If you were disappointed by the difference between the actual situation and what you had expected you can say it was a far cry from what I have expected.

TOEIC listening, talks: Business man is leaving voice mail for his secretary asking to her to rearrange this schedule

[Katarzyna]

There is a spelling mistake in this sentence:

disappointed

Regards :)

[Sevide]

Hi,

Does this sentence mean that the conditions when George first started work were much better than the today's working conditions ?

Thanks ahead.

[Alan]

Hi Sevide,

A far cry from means quite different from. In this sentence the meaning is that condtions today are far better than they were when he was working. It is often used in the sense of looking back and realising that things have improved and become better than they were in the past.

Alan
_________________
English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story Present Simple

[Sevide]

Hi Alan,

I got it!thanks :wink:

It's a great site you know!

[Kati Svaby]

a far cry from sth -is an idiom. Alan explained, I would like to write another sentence with it. syn: remote

All this luxury was a far cry from the poverty of his childhood.