# "Cheap at \_\_\_\_\_ the price"
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheap-at-_____-the-price/656708
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [April 25, 2013, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheap-at-_____-the-price/656708 "2013-04-25T21:23:52Z")
**Posts on this page:** 10
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2013, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheap-at-_____-the-price/656708/21 "2013-04-26T22:34:56Z")
> [@Staggerlee](#):
>
> Sounds so far like Americans misinterpreting a knowing East End barrow-boy joke.
That being quite possible, would you share the joke?
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### Author:  [@Mame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mame)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2013, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheap-at-_____-the-price/656708/22 "2013-04-26T23:04:40Z")
I know it as “cheap at half the price”. My grandparents used to say it in the '60s, to mean something underpriced and good value, and I never understood why - it seemed illogical. Much thanks to **Little Nemo** for ignorance fought.
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### Author:  [@Staggerlee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Staggerlee)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2013, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheap-at-_____-the-price/656708/23 "2013-04-26T23:19:34Z")
> [@Zeldar](#):
>
> That being quite possible, would you share the joke?
When I"ve heard it [half the price], I’ve always taken it as a knowing, absurd comment on salesmanship. But this thread makes me think it’s an unthinking cliche.
;):mad:
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### Author:  [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2013, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheap-at-_____-the-price/656708/24 "2013-04-27T18:26:14Z")
> [@Doug\_K](#):
>
> The real saying is “a BARGAIN at twice the price.”
I don’t think I’ve ever heard it with ‘bargain’ being the word in there. I’ve heard ‘_a steal_ at twice the price’ and ‘cheap at twice the price,’ usually the former, hundreds of times.
> [@](#):
>
> “A bargain at half the price” is a snarky way of saying something is overpriced.
Tru dat, though again, I’ve always heard it ‘a steal at half the price.’ But the meaning is always, “I sure wouldn’t pay that price for it.”
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### Author:  [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2013, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheap-at-_____-the-price/656708/25 "2013-04-27T18:50:30Z")
The snarky use of “Cheap at half the price” has kind of a double slam to it. Not only is it a backhanded way of saying it’s overpriced, you are also implying that the product is shoddy, although that may not have been evident 50 years ago. In marketing terms, the word “cheap” has steadily evolved from meaning “inexpensive” to meaning “shoddy”. I think MAD Magazine is the last business of earth that still uses “cheap” as a descriptive in their marketing.
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### Author:  [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2013, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheap-at-_____-the-price/656708/26 "2013-04-28T17:32:53Z")
> [@Zeldar](#):
>
> That being quite possible, would you share the joke?
It’s just a light-hearted way of saying that something is cheap. The joke being that, of course, “cheap at half the price” doesn’t actually mean that the thing is cheap, if you think about it. In other words, it is irony.
I heard this expression all the time from my mother and others of her generation. I always assumed that it was a quote from some comedy show.
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### Author:  [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)
#### Post date: [April 29, 2013, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheap-at-_____-the-price/656708/27 "2013-04-29T13:43:30Z")
I always thought it meant it was such good value that even halving it wouldn’t make it expensive. Perhaps that doesn’t make sense, but that’s how I understand it.
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [April 29, 2013, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheap-at-_____-the-price/656708/28 "2013-04-29T15:04:01Z")
The original phrase was “Cheap at twice the price,” the idea being that even if they charged twice as much for the item, it would still be a great value. The meaning of “cheap” was “inexpensive”; it had not gained the current useage of “of little value.”
It was turned to “Cheap at half the price” as a joke.
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### Author:  [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)
#### Post date: [April 29, 2013, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheap-at-_____-the-price/656708/29 "2013-04-29T23:35:53Z")
I’ve always heard it as half, and have always understood it to be sarcastic about what a “bargin” the overpriced thing is.
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### Author:  [@AaronX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AaronX)
#### Post date: [April 30, 2013, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheap-at-_____-the-price/656708/30 "2013-04-30T07:15:09Z")
I’ve never heard this as an insult.
> [@Little\_Nemo](#):
>
> You’re misreading it. “Cheap at half the price” means “It’s cheap because it’s at half the price you’d normally pay.”
This is how I see it, although it may make more sense if broken up:
“I got this car cheap - at half the price!”
“I got this car cheap. At half the price!”
If you’re going to say “cheap at twice the price”, seems you need to use “would be” or “even”:
“This car would be cheap at twice the price!”
“This car is cheap even at twice the price!”
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