"cost an arm and a leg"

[Bruce Dykes]

-----Original Message-----
From: Gerald Cohen <gcohen at UMR.EDU>
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Date: Tuesday, April 04, 2000 9:51 PM
Subject: "cost an arm and a leg"


>Today I received the following  query from _The Readers Digest_:
>>
>>... we are looking for the origin of the phrase "that will cost you an arm
>>and a leg."  Do you have any suggestions on where we might look to find
this
>>answer?  Any books you could suggest?
>>
>     What comes to mind here is that the physical cost of combat (loss of
>an arm and a leg, i.e.  a huge loss) is transferred to the context of a
>monetary cost.
>
>      Would  anyone have any additional information or insight to pass
along?


What comes to my mind are Mafia debt collection techniques...

bkd