The Canberra Times published an article on
24 March 2018 with the headline: Phone users set to foot the bill amid fears
over China tech power. What does ‘foot the bill’ mean? And what does a part of
the body – the foot – have to do with a payment?
‘To
foot the bill’ is an idiom that means ‘to pay a bill’ or ‘to pay for something,’
according to the McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs,
and the Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.
It
is estimated that the term ‘foot the bill’ has been in use since the early
1800s according to the American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms. As it still is
today, when a bill or invoice is presented to a customer, it shows the items purchased,
and a total at the foot, or bottom, of the account.
‘At
the foot of the hill’ means at the bottom of the hill; ‘at the foot of the bed’
means at the bottom of the bed. Likewise, ‘at the foot of the bill’ means at
the bottom of the bill.
Hence,
‘to foot the bill’ is to add up the bill, put a total at the bottom, and, of course,
to pay the amount listed. Therefore the headline is: Phone users set to pay the bill amid fears over China tech
power.
What
does the article say?
The Australian government is concerned about
foreign influence in mobile phone networks and is drafting policies to block
foreign companies from building the networks. The second sentence of the
article states, ‘The move is fuelling claims that consumers will pay a higher
cost for the ... services if Australian companies are forced to turn away
Chinese equipment suppliers such as Huawei, given estimates the company is a step ahead
of its US and European rivals on price and performance.’
Another sentence in the article reiterates the
concern that Australian companies and their customers may be forced to ‘pay
more.’
Why use ‘foot’ when ‘pay’ will
suffice? There was no mention in the article that mobile phone costs would be exorbitant
– i.e. that people will be paying ‘an arm and a leg’ for the services – a common
idiom used when expenses are high. Or did the article mean ‘no, the services
won’t cost an arm and a leg, just a foot’? However, the article did not include
any such body parts for comparison or for cleverness.
Scorecard for The Canberra
Times headline is 90%. The article never uses the phrase ‘foot the bill’ in
the main text – it is only used in the headline. Although the idiom ‘foot the
bill’ is commonly understood, and is used colloquially throughout Australia, the
headline could just as easily have used the term ‘pay the bill.’
MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom
(2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest
Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The
Sudan Curse (2009).
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