Idioms — Money & Business (Abuela Carmen's Wisdom)
B2 — vocabulary, reading, speaking, listening
Sofía: This new laptop cost me an arm and a leg.
Abuela Carmen: Then don't cut corners on the case — protect it, or you'll pay through the nose fixing it later.
Sofía: You always have a saying for everything.
Abuela Carmen: When you sold mangoes for thirty years, you learn every trick to make ends meet.
Common mistake: “The phone cost an arm and a leg, so now I only have one arm.” — Correct: “The phone cost an arm and a leg, so I can't afford anything else this month.”
Idioms about money describe cost, risk and survival using images (arms, legs, corners, noses) that have nothing literally to do with money — the meaning is entirely figurative.
Money idioms — literal image vs. real meaning| Idiom | Literal image | Real meaning |
|---|
| cost an arm and a leg | losing body parts | be very expensive |
| cut corners | taking a shortcut on a shape | do something cheaply/badly to save money or time |
| go bust / go under | sinking | a business fails financially |
| pay through the nose | an odd, painful image | pay much more than something is worth |
| make ends meet | two ends touching | have just enough money to live on |
- muy caro cost an arm and a leg — costar un ojo de la cara
- recortar de forma riesgosa cut corners — recortar gastos/calidad de forma riesgosa
- quebrar go bust / go under — quebrar (un negocio)
- opción segura safe bet — apuesta segura
- pagar de más pay through the nose — pagar un dineral
- llegar a fin de mes make ends meet — llegar a fin de mes (financieramente)
- That new phone cost Ben an arm and a leg.
- Sofía's studio is a safe bet — she's never lost a client.
- Abuela Carmen says cutting corners always costs more later.
- They paid through the nose for that apartment.
- Sofía doesn't cut corners, even when a client is in a hurry.
- The business didn't go under, despite the hard year.
- We didn't make ends meet that first year of the studio.
- Did that renovation cost an arm and a leg?
- Is it a safe bet to invest in her studio?
- How do freelancers make ends meet in a slow month?
- Did the business go bust? No, it didn't.
- Did you pay through the nose for the flight? Yes, I did.
- Is Sofía's studio a safe bet? Yes, it is.
Practice
- That new phone ___ Ben an arm and a leg. (cost, paid, made)
- Abuela Carmen says cutting corners always ___ more later. (costs, pays, goes)
- They ___ through the nose for that apartment. (paid, cost, cut)
- 'Cost an arm and a leg' means something is very cheap.
- 'Cut corners' means to do something poorly to save time or money.
- 'Go bust' means a business becomes very successful.
- Sofía doesn't ___ corners, even in a hurry.
- The business didn't go ___, despite the hard year.
- We didn't ___ ends meet that first year.
- Unscramble: that, new, phone, cost, Ben, an, arm, and, a, leg
- Unscramble: they, paid, through, the, nose, for, that, apartment
- Find the mistake: The phone cost an arm and a leg, so now I only have one arm.
- The laptop was extremely expensive. — Rewrite using 'cost an arm and a leg'.
- The company failed financially. — Rewrite using 'go bust' or 'go under'.
- Is it a safe bet to invest in her studio? — Answer with a short answer (Yes).
- Sofía cuts corners on every project. — Write the negative form.
- Have you ever paid through the nose for something? (short answer)
Listening
Sofía: This new laptop cost me an arm and a leg.
Abuela Carmen: Then don't cut corners on the case — protect it, or you'll pay through the nose fixing it later.
Sofía: You always have a saying for everything.
Abuela Carmen: When you sold mangoes for thirty years, you learn every trick to make ends meet.
Sofía: Did you ever worry the stand would go bust?
Abuela Carmen: Every single week. And it never did.
Reading
Abuela Carmen sold mangoes on the same corner for thirty years, and she says every idiom about money in English has a mango-stand equivalent in her own history. When Sofía complains that a new laptop cost her an arm and a leg, Abuela Carmen nods — she remembers years when a single bad harvest meant paying through the nose for fruit she used to grow herself. When people ask if her business ever nearly went bust, she just laughs: 'Every week felt like it might. And every week, somehow, we made ends meet.' Her one rule, repeated to Sofía more times than either can count: never cut corners on the thing your reputation depends on.
- Abuela Carmen sold mangoes for thirty years.
- She says her business never felt like it might fail.
- Her business actually went bust at some point.
- Her rule is to never cut corners on her reputation.