A: Have you heard? Mary and her colleagues have many dinner vouches to a newly opened restaurant.

B: Yeah. The restaurant owner is famous for his horse trading; he’s just exchanged 100 free dinners for two for a month of free TV commercials.

Note: Horse trading originally referred to the buying and selling of horses. Due to the difficulties in evaluating the merits of a horse offered for sale, the selling of horses offered great opportunities for dishonesty. It was expected that horse sellers would capitalize on these opportunities, so those who dealt in horses gained a reputation for underhand business practices. The term “horse trading” is widely adopted as a way to describe what might be seen as unethical business practices in a more positive light. It can refer to negotiation marked by hard bargaining and shrewd exchange.