make honest money? make clean money?

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
1

“Honest money goes further. A bird in hand is worth two in the bush”. These are two sentence I heard when I was watching a moive called << In the name of the father>>. I wonder if it is proper for me to say: make honest money? Does it sound nature to you? I googled “make honest money” and got 45,000,000 hits. But you know, sometime, trust google implicitly is not a very good idea, thus I came here for your help. :slight_smile:

I’d also like to know if it is possible for me to say: make clean money. Are they(make honest money & make clean money) equivalent to each other?

Many many thanks.

2

“make honest money” isn’t very natural to my ear, though “honest money” and “make money” are more than natural separately.

“clean money” would be the same case.

But, they can or have already been put together! New phrases or usages are coming into being everyday! That’s not unnatural.

3

A common phrase in English is “make an honest living”.

He was a good man and made an honest living.

4

Thanks alot, Haihao and Expatcat. :slight_smile: