Page 2 - Land Patent Document

“An Arm and a Leg”

"It cost me an arm and a leg!" can be both
a boastful and painful statement to make.

This common American phrase simply describes anything that may be
extremely expensive or cost to the point of sacrifice. Where did such a
phrase come from?

Before technology began to boom, taking a “selfie” took a lot more than
a simple press of a button, it had to be painted or sculpted. Oddly enough,
many old paintings display the faces and shoulders of individuals, or a
person with their arms (or just one arm) behind their back. Coincidence? It

is said that, in these times, portraits were priced based on the number of
limbs due to the difficulty of painting arms, legs, hands, and feet!

Interestingly enough, some believe that if you wanted to cut the costs of
your painting, it would “cost you an arm and a leg.”

More recently, this American phrase was solidified and coined

sometime after WWII. Early citations of the phrase have been found being
used by news reporters in the 1940s making comparative reference to the
harsh reality of servicemen losing arms and legs during wartime to how
homemakers can celebrate holidays without it causing too much financial

strife. An arm and leg were used
as examples of the high cost paid
by those who experienced

amputations or items that would
be a great sacrifice to consider
bargaining other than at a
tremendous price.

This phrase of “costing an
arm and a leg” is one that
developed from a combination of

two phrases that can be
documented much earlier in time. “If it takes a leg” is used to express
desperate determination and dates back to 1872. Similarly, “I’d give my