I have read “costs a pretty penny” before.
Is it okay if I instead use “costs a pretty dollar” or “costs a pretty yen”?
Answer
Well, you can say anything you want, but the more remote or non-standard it is, the less likely you’ll be understood. I guess that’s almost too obvious to say. However, if you said costs a pretty dollar, you might get an askance look from people :-).
Pretty penny is an older colloquialism. Old enough that it is trite.
If you said that costs a pretty yen to me, I’d ask you “well how are things in Japan these days?” :))
Attribution
Source : Link , Question Author : sunleo , Answer Author : Howard Pautz
