Cheap at half the price

[yassa]

Of coarse it would be... where does this saying come from, thanks?

[jno]

from a misunderstanding: it should be 'cheap at twice the price'. I suppose people have trouble with fractions. It's probably originally market trader talk or something like that.

[Quizmonster]

�Cheap at half the price would make more sense if it were �cheap at double the price', as J says above. Market-traders/street-sellers, such as Del-Boy Trotter, might have cried:"This is worth �8.00 but I'm not asking for �8.00...I'm not even asking for �4.00...all I'm asking today is �2.00! Come on, ladies and gentlemen...it's cheap at half the price!" Another way of expressing it would be to think of "(This item is) cheap (today) at half the (normal) price."

[chakka35]

No, no, it's just a boring joke. "Cheap at twice the price" was an (usually insincere) come-on to you to buy. Clever-dicks then took the mickey out of it by reversing it.

[Andyvon]

Thanks cos I never understood that either.