(Photo by liuwencheng)
In the listening lesson “Sex and the City 2!” I talked about buying snacks at the movie theatre. I said:
I think that paying $6.26 for a SMALL bag of popcorn is highway robbery!
(highway robbery = when someone charges you a price that is ridiculously high!)
expensive:
Parking a car downtown Toronto costs an arm and a leg!
Wow! That house looks expensive. It must have cost a small fortune.
Oooh, is that a new Prada bag? That must have cost you a pretty penny!
I really like the new restaurant that opened up down the street. It’s a bit pricey but the food is worth it!
We found the perfect location for our wedding reception, but we had to pay through the nose for it!
I would love to go to Switzerland on vacation, but a trip right now would definitely break the bank!
Going to the movies is expensive, but it won’t break the bank!
(to break the bank = to cost all the money you have in the bank; more commonly used in the negative form to not break the bank when you want to say that something is expensive, but not that expensive.)
The New York Yankees pay top dollar for the best baseball players.
(to pay top dollar= to pay a lot of money for something.)
~
Do you have any interesting expressions in your language to say that something is expensive?
Melanie is a TESL-certified English teacher. She lives near Toronto, Canada. Through her blog, videos, podcasts, and social media, she helps thousands of people around the world improve their English. She makes English a little less confusing and a little more fun! She also helps people understand Canadian and American culture. She believes that natural interaction with a native speaker helps people practice what they have learned and builds their confidence with English!
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
You are beautiful and hey your lessons are great..they have been introduced in a more understanding way with videos…students stay attracted while teaching when the look of the teacher is great…I also do English tuition here in Sri Lanka..nice meeting you dear!
Hello Kelum!
Thank you for taking the time to leave a nice comment : ) I'm happy to hear my lessons are useful to you!
Hi Melania. Well, see, in Spain we use a similar expression to "break the bank". When someone wants to treat himself, but thinks that is going to spend too much money, they say "no vas a salir de pobre por eso". It means that you're poor now and you will continue being poor after spending that amount of money. You know, we Spaniards aren't good savers.
I hope not to have made many mistakes in my writting. Thanks a lot for your lessons!
Hi, Marvin! (I think 'tio' in Spanish is 'uncle'?!)
It's nice to hear from you! Don't worry, I understood everything you wrote. So, is "no vas a salir de pobre por eso" an encouragment to spend the money or to save?! It sounds like it encourages the person to spend since they will be poor anyways = )
Take care,
Melanie
Hi, Melanie! Do native speakers really use all these expressions all the time? Which ones are more common to use? Which ones are used quite rarely?
P.S. what about the phrase 'rip off'? is it used with the same meaning as 'highway robbery'? or you don't use it at all?
Hi, Per-anya!
Of course native speakers use these expressions! Why would I post expressions that native speakers don't use?!
'Rip off' doesn't necessarily mean that something is expensive; it means that something is not worth what you paid for it!
I hope that helps,
Melanie
= )
Hi there, Melanie. Certainly, Tío is "uncle" in Spanish.
And, yes, the idiom is an encoraugement to spend the money. Nice to hear from you too. Hugs!
Hey Melanie!
We have a lot of expressions for that situation here in Brazil, like "Que Roubo" (something like the english expression you mentioned "highway robbery"), "isso me custou o olho da cara" (that cost my face eyes), I can't remember more ones right now, hehe. =D
Hugs!