Hi this is Tutor Nick P and this is Idioms 211. The idiom today is to cost an
arm and a leg. Okay. Let's take a look at the note here. If something costs an arm
and a leg, it is extremely expensive. All right . Let's continue. There are some
people who claim this phrase came from the idea that in former times painters
used to charge according to the amounts of limbs that were in a portrait.
However they say there is no proof to back up that claim. Yeah. So you might
have heard this on the Internet. You might hear other people claim this
because it's a lot of people who are spreading that this was the idea. But
they don't have any real proof to back this up a hundred percent. Others believe
it came from the high price many soldiers paid for defending their
country in World War two. Yeah. Unfortunately many soldiers might've
lost an arm or a leg fighting a battle. So there are some people believe it came from
that. Finally there are those that believe it may have come from earlier
phrases of one saying he or she would give their right arm for and maybe even
or even a leg for .... This one sounds the most likely out of all three , but either
way we have the phrase today. And it is a very common phrase and it's a very
common way of saying that something is expensive or too expensive. All right.
Let's just take a look at a couple of examples we have here. Example number one.
I would love to buy a Tesla car, but it cost an arm and a leg. It is really beyond
my budget. So I really can't afford that it cost an arm and a leg. All right. Let's
look at number two. I wouldn't waste my hard-earned money on buying an LV bag . It
cost an arm and a leg to own one. So if you're saying something cost an arm and
a leg, you already have the opinion that you think it's way too expensive or way
more costly than it should be. Anyway, I hope you got it . I hope it was clear.
Thank you for your time. Bye-bye.