Switzerland· hard· informal
coûter le lard du chat
“to cost the cat's bacon”
Meaning
to cost a fortune
Explanation
This Swiss expression means something is extremely expensive, equivalent to 'coûter les yeux de la tête' in standard French.
Example
On a fait réparer le toit, ça nous a coûté le lard du chat.
We had the roof repaired, it cost us an arm and a leg.
Origin
A Swiss Romande expression of uncertain etymology, first attested in a Vaudois text from 1912. One theory is that farm cats, being lean hunters, had no fat to spare, so their bacon would be impossibly rare and precious. The expression entered the Larousse dictionary in 2013.
Where
Suisse romande
Source
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