prices

[Steve Marder]

> I heard in the BBC the following expression: "...prices might be cheaper..."
> Well, I hear frequently that sort of expressions in my native
> language (Russian). I don't want to look like a snob but I really
> feel myself a bit funny when I hear this. I think that goods may
> be cheaper, services may be cheaper, I'm not sure, but maybe even
> humor may be cheaper (it certainly does in Russian!). But prices?
> they may be bigger or smaller, higher or lower, but cheaper...?
> What do you think?

Your linguistic sensitivities are to be applauded, but the fact remains
that, like it or not, we are stuck with such usages. The Web abounds
with them:

"cheaper prices"

1. cheaper prices, higher quality

2. Opening the way for cheaper gas prices

3. You'll get cheaper prices for same drugs at a vet pharmacy

By "logical" extension -- "cheapest prices":

1. Your gateway to Europe's finest hotels at the cheapest prices

2. The cheapest prices around

3. Compare the top online florist sites for the cheapest prices on
flower ordering and delivery

And if we have "cheaper prices," why not "more expensive prices"? Indeed:

1. I can't afford right now to pay the more expensive prices

2. We found that sites such as Travelocity and Microsoft's Expedia
generally offered cheaper prices for domestic travel, but more expensive
prices for foreign routes

3. Because I had been overseas, I now had to pay the more expensive
prices at restaurants and hotels.

And once again by "logical" extension -- "most expensive prices":

1. What I found were the most expensive prices of any source I had
investigated on virtually every piece of hardware... in the store

2. Desserts: deep dish apple pie, pecan pie, key lime pie, ice cream and
mud pie with the most expensive prices at $4.95

3. The present NC government, which does not have to constantly tread on
its toes, like the weak coalition governments before it, can seriously
look at how the Nepalese, one of the poorest people in the world, have
to pay the most expensive prices for basic essentials like petroleum
products and electricity.

Aleksander, you're NOT a snob!

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