ПОЧЕМ ФУНТ ЛИХА

• ПОЧЕМ ФУНТ ЛИХА узнать, знать, понять и т. п. coll

[subord clause; Invar; fixed WO]

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⇒ (to know, learn) what severe hardship is (by personally experiencing an ordeal, hard time etc):

- what real trouble <misfortune, suffering, misery etc> is;

- what hard times are (really like <all about>).

     ♦ "Жена воспитывалась в детском доме. Сирота... Она с детства узнала, почём фунт лиха стоит..." (Шолохов 1). "Му wife had been brought up in a children's home. She was an orphan. ...She had known what real trouble was since she was a kid" (lc).