HYPERBOLE IN SPANISH PHRASES

Spanish-speaking people are obsessed with the cost of things. As soon as you meet one, she will tell you how much she paid for the car, house, the children's education. And they are hyperbolic about it! They will exaggerate to no end. Let me simply copy an entry from my Phraseological Dictionary to prove my point:

Costar un ojo de la cara (una barbaridad, una pasta, potosí, Perú, Congo, huevo, riñón, una fortuna) Cost a pretty penny, an arm and a leg, a fortune, a bomb, the earth, a bundle

La sortija me costó un ojo de la cara The ring cost me a pretty penny

— “… como cuando quiso la pianola que me costó un ojo de la cara…” Ricardo Elizondo Elizondo, Setenta veces siete, 1987. Méx. || “Digo ahora maldito partido porque nos costó un huevo.” Diego Armando Maradona, Yo soy el Diego, 2000. Arg.