Have you got a good deal?

[Sherry Liao]

(Recently, I realized that the way to prevent me from shopping outside and spending all of my money was to stay at home and practice English. Today I just read some materials and made some practices as follows. Please feel free to correct me if there are any mistakes.)

The global financial crisis has engendered lots of discussions and... panic maybe, concerning the investment and consumption issues, especially after the release of news regarding bank failures, and the expectation of a coming great depression.

The uncertainty about future generates a dilemma that, should we save more against an uncertain future, or should we spend now in order to enjoy consumption before the savings are wiped out by a possible financial meltdown? In this financial climate, should we save or splurge?

Well..., this is an English forum, so let us not focus on the discussion of financial issues. Instead of buying more, in this circumstance I feel like practicing usages about consumption in English.

The other day I bought a sweet sleeky puppy which was kind of... expensive. (Yes, some of you have seen it. I just brought it to the meeting last week.) The following are the usages I learned with regard to some situations related to "錢包大失血":

It costs a lot of money.
It has cost me a fortune.
I really pay through the nose for it.
They really charge up the (ass).
That's practically highway robbery.
That stuff is chic, but I don't want to break the bank.

However, given financial worries, most people believe that in the meantime, saving is a more rational decision, and we should look for ways to economize (for example, to avoid spending on big-ticket items; to make do by choosing cheaper alternatives; or to do some comparison shopping to get a good deal). If you have good luck obtaining some items at a lower price, congratulations! I would say:

What a bargain!
What a steal! / That's a steal!
That's pretty easy on...
Sounds like a pretty good deal. / You got a pretty good deal on it.
Sounds good. / Not bad.

What about you? Have you got a good deal?

[technobabel]

Sometimes the best deal is no deal!

[Sherry Liao]

Sometimes the best deal is no deal!

True, true.
But how can you make it? You are not Robinson Crusoe.

[Sherry Liao]

Recently the bad goods have been rampant. If any of you got a lemon, I would say:

What a rip-off!

As to the thought of "一分錢一分貨", I think I would just say:

You get what you pay for!

[technobabel]

Bad deal avoidance is game, "caveat emptor" is the name.

Caveat emptor is Latin for "Let the buyer beware".[1] Generally caveat emptor is the property law doctrine that controls the sale of real property after the date of closing.

For some reason, this Latin phrase is quiet popular in describing the Lehman Brother situation.
Just search "caveat emptor" with "lehman" in Google and find out.

Here is a 連動債 related example.
http://sgmusicwhiz.blogspot.com/2008/09 ... t-you.html

Caveat emptor references in popular culture

* In the book Ubik by American science fiction writer Philip Dick the character Pat has a tattoo with "Caveat Emptor" on her arm
* Matt Damon's character mentions Caveat Emptor in the 1998 Poker movie Rounders
* Caveat Emptor is mentioned in the British Sea Power song "Atom"
* Caveat Emptor is mentioned in The Mars Volta song "Roulette Dares (The Haunt Of)"
* Leland Gaunt has a sign that reads "Caveat Emptor" in his shop Needful Things in the Stephen King novel of the same name.
* Caveat Emptor is mentioned by the android character Data, in the Star Trek TNG Episode "The Last Outpost" (season 1, episode 4, original airdate: 10/19/1987), in reference to the profit-obsessed Ferengi.
* Also it is mentioned in Qwarks Opera in Secret Agent Clank
* In the book Gone with the Wind, Rhett Butler nearly convinces Scarlett O'Hara to name her new store 'Caveat Emporium'.

[Sherry Liao]

Bad deal avoidance is game, "caveat emptor" is the name.

A corresponding phrase in Chinese is "貨物既出, 概不退換".

There is a well-known strategy of marketing that we call "puffery". In Taiwan, consumer protection laws exist to prevent advertisers making untrue or unprovable statements, but I am not sure if they really work. Maybe the consumers can only rely on their own judgement when making purchase decision.

The Lehman Brother event is a lesson. Now we all have to obey the saying: “If something is too good to be true, then sometimes it isn't true.”

[Kooper]

Bad deal avoidance is game, "caveat emptor" is the name.

A corresponding phrase in Chinese is "貨物既出, 概不退換".

There is a well-known strategy of marketing that we call "puffery". In Taiwan, consumer protection laws exist to prevent advertisers making untrue or unprovable statements, but I am not sure if they really work. Maybe the consumers can only rely on their own judgement when making purchase decision.

The Lehman Brother event is a lesson. Now we all have to obey the saying: “If something is too good to be true, then sometimes it isn't true.”

Agreed. Here is a sentence I got from a dictionary: This deal looks too good to be true - there must be a catch somewhere.

[Rock]

should we save more against an uncertain future, or should we spend now in order to enjoy consumption before the savings are wiped out by a possible financial meltdown?

Will a meltdown really degrade our living standard? I doubt that. If everyone's money has been taken to nowhere or "vaporized" by a huge financial mistake, then it means everybody is poor. If everybody is poor, then the prices of all the goods should fall down, right? I mean, money, or the currency, is just a media in a transaction; you cannot eat the money or sleep with the money. The true producers are things like the farms, factories, or oil wells. As long as they are still there and doing fine, it's unlikely that we will suffer from lacking of anything. This financial meltdown is not really as serious as a war or a plague, or something big. Don't worry too much.

[Georgia]

Will a meltdown really degrade our living standard? I doubt that. ...This financial meltdown is not really as serious as a war or a plague, or something big. Don't worry too much.

Just because you're rich.

[Sherry Liao]

should we save more against an uncertain future, or should we spend now in order to enjoy consumption before the savings are wiped out by a possible financial meltdown?

Will a meltdown really degrade our living standard? I doubt that. If everyone's money has been taken to nowhere or "vaporized" by a huge financial mistake, then it means everybody is poor. If everybody is poor, then the prices of all the goods should fall down, right? I mean, money, or the currency, is just a media in a transaction; you cannot eat the money or sleep with the money. The true producers are things like the farms, factories, or oil wells. As long as they are still there and doing fine, it's unlikely that we will suffer from lacking of anything. This financial meltdown is not really as serious as a war or a plague, or something big. Don't worry too much.

I don't think so! Governments may choose to devaluate their currencies in an economic crisis, which means the price of goods will rise, not fall down. And if the currency system collapses, we all have to barter in order to survive!

Take my job for example. You know I work with a patent firm. Without currency system, how can you value the price of intellectual property right? Then I will lose my job.

And don't believe you can obtain daily commodities by tutoring. Now In Zimbabwe, a teacher has to teach for a couple of hours to earn about 40 cents, which is only enough for a single bread roll.

Oh, I am not trying to paint a gloom and doom picture. We are just talking about it, right?

Life in Zimbabwe: Wait for Useless Money
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/02/world ... bwe&st=cse

[technobabel]

Bad deal avoidance is game, "caveat emptor" is the name.

A corresponding phrase in Chinese is "貨物既出, 概不退換".

There is a well-known strategy of marketing that we call "puffery". In Taiwan, consumer protection laws exist to prevent advertisers making untrue or unprovable statements, but I am not sure if they really work. Maybe the consumers can only rely on their own judgement when making purchase decision.

The Lehman Brother event is a lesson. Now we all have to obey the saying: “If something is too good to be true, then sometimes it isn't true.”

Agreed. Here is a sentence I got from a dictionary: This deal looks too good to be true - there must be a catch somewhere.

Too bad that there is no litmus test for "goodness" in the extreme.
The threshold for what is "too good" can never be clearly ascertained.
Let's just stick with those things that aren't good enough to be untrue.