"cost an arm and a leg"

[Laurence Horn]

Gerald Cohen writes:

>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.
>
>    In this connection, cf. "pay through the nose," which  apparently first
>referred to being clobbered in the face (with blood flowing freely from the
>nose) and was then transferred to the context of a monetary cost.
>
>      Would  anyone have any additional information or insight to pass along?
>

No, but one of my favorite mishearings/reanalyses/pullet surprises has
always been "That'll cost you a nominal egg."   (Works best in New York,
Boston, and southern England.)

larry