In the program "Historically Vôtre" from Europe 1, Stéphane Bern returns every day to an expression that we use every day. Tuesday, he explained the origin of "it costs the skin of the buttocks", invented by the journalist and humorist Alphonse Allais, in the 19th century. But another hypothesis, which dates back to 1000 BC, also exists.

The expression "it costs the skin of the buttocks" is not the most elegant among all those that make up the French language, but it is nevertheless often used.

And for a long time.

It would have appeared in France at the end of the 19th century.

But according to Stéphane Bern who looks every day at a pictorial expression of our daily life, another hypothesis, much older, also exists.

This goes back to 1000 years before our era, when the Greek city of Ephesus was in full swing.  

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"When we wonder about the quality-price ratio of a good, when, aware of the value of a purchase, we see the financial sacrifice to be made, we sometimes hear the saucy expression" it costs the skin of buttocks ”, which looks like“ it costs an arm ”or“ it costs the eyes of the head. ”Alphonse Allais, who was a journalist and comedian, officially invented“ it costs the skin ”in 1897. François Cavanna in his novel

Les Russkoff

dares to use this expression, but it had already entered everyday language. 

"The skin of Ephesus"

There is another hypothesis as to the origin of the formula. A thousand years before our era, in present-day Turkey, the Greek city Ephesus shines with a thousand lights and will become the capital of the Roman province of Asia Minor. In this port of the Aegean Sea, trade is in full swing. They sell spices, precious wood and furs. Bear skins are particularly fashionable, but since rare things are expensive, prices are going up. Then the expression in the form of a pun 'it costs the skin of Ephesus' is born. But I am neither convinced of the authenticity of this hypothesis nor of its humor ...

Today, to say the skin of the buttocks in German, we say that it costs the whites of the eyes. In Spain, it is "costar un ojo y la mitad del otro", or "it costs one eye and half the other". In Vietnam, we say "a price that cuts your throat". "