In relativity, space and time are just different directions in spacetime with a single pseudometric determining separation between events. With this understanding, the time/space distance metaphor is more literal than most people think.
The correspondence isn’t exact since it’s a pseudometric and not a standard metric, and everyday units of time correspond to much greater than everyday units of distance, but it’s still more than just a metaphor.
In relativity, space and time are just different directions in spacetime with a single pseudometric determining separation between events. With this understanding, the time/space distance metaphor is more literal than most people think.
The correspondence isn’t exact since it’s a pseudometric and not a standard metric, and everyday units of time correspond to much greater than everyday units of distance, but it’s still more than just a metaphor.