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De lo que no cuesta se llena la cesta

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ROBINDESBOIS
May 27, 2010, 03:48 AM
English?
Do you know an equivalent for this in English ?

JPablo
May 29, 2010, 03:20 AM
Well... "it is easy to fill your pockets with things of little or on value" as these are cheap and you don't have to pay an arm and a leg for them... so you can go to, let's say to the ABA (American Book Association) and go back home with your "cart" full of mags, CDs, DVDs, this, that and the other thing... i.e., a bunch of "promotional items" that maybe were expensive for the companies that printed them or manufactured (as marketing devices), but are totally free of cost to you... in which case, the 'cesta' that ends up full is 'la cesta de la basura' (the garbage bin!).
Lo mismo con el spam. "Te lo mandan gratis"... y se te llena tu e-mail...
No sé por qué, me recuerda a lo de "los dinerillos del sacristán cantando se vienen y cantando se van"... como que lo que cuesta poco de conseguir, cuesta poco de perder... In English, something like "Easy comes, easy goes" (así como viene, se va.)
Maybe an English native speaker has a closer approximation. Así, a botepronto, "pensando en voz alta" es lo que más se acerca... Si se me ocurre algo mejor, te lo digo...
(No pain, no gain... would also have similar connotation, if you really want to have something of value you have to work at it... "you can fill a bag of useless objects")
"It is easy to fill your basket with valueless or cheap items" would be a "literal" rendition.

ROBINDESBOIS
May 29, 2010, 03:44 AM
The Spanish saying has a negative connotation and it´s used in contexts where the thing we´re talking about is quite worthy. For example.: I don´t usually call people from my mobile because it´s really expensive, but when I get the chance at work, I call anybody I can´t think of, because I don´t pay for it. In that case I lleno la cesta, porque no me cuesta nada. Is there an equivalent saying in English?