Costs the earth 💰🌍

Meaning

This phrase describes something that is extremely expensive or requires an enormous amount of money.

Origin

In an era of burgeoning global commerce and increasingly vast fortunes, the English language needed a new way to describe an expense beyond mere wealth. Emerging in the 20th century, "costs the earth" arrived as a powerful hyperbole, sweeping aside older phrases like "a king's ransom" with a grander, more universal scale. It conjures the image of an object demanding the entirety of the planet's collective riches as payment, instantly conveying an insurmountable, almost absurdly high price tag. This vivid metaphor cemented itself in everyday speech as the ultimate declaration of extreme expense.

Costs the earth represented with emoji💰🌍

This playful arrangement of a money bag followed by a globe not just presents a visual pun, but also functions as a delightful reminder of the adage that some things can indeed cost the earth, inviting a dialogue on the often-exorbitant price of our desires.

Examples

• We really wanted that vintage car, but the restoration work costs the earth.
• Buying a house in this city now costs the earth, making it nearly impossible for first-time buyers.