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An arm and a leg

Posted by Thenostromo on August 30, 2000

In Reply to: An arm and a leg posted by Janice on August 30, 2000

It most certainly means (to the effect) "I would sacrifice a LOT". I've always wondered if it were rooted in Shakespeare. "Honour pricks me on. Yea, but how if honour prick me off when I come on? how then? Can honour set to a leg? No. Or an arm? No. Or take away the grief of a wound? No. Honour hath no skill in surgery then? No. What is honour? A word. What is that word, honour? Air. A trim reckoning! Who hath it? He that died o' Wednesday. Doth he feel it? No. Doth he hear it? No. Is it insensible then? Yea, to the dead. But will it not live with the living? No. Why? Detraction will not suffer it:- therefore, I'll none of it: Honour is a mere scutcheon, and so ends my catechism." Shakespeare.-King Henry IV. Part I. Act V. Scene 1. (Falstaff.)

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