Cuanto cuesta

Need some help with this one. I know that "cuanto" means how much and that is what I used to say to vendors, actually, "cuanto, por favor" until I was told that to use "cuanto" even with my por favor was rude and I needed to add "cuesta", which I now do, but I don't know why, as cuesta appears to mean "slope". Need a Spanish speaker here. Thanks, chico

Cuesta comes from the verb "costar"....to cost. How much does it cost?

Then cuanto cuesta seems to be repetitive. yes? No? Stop teasing me. chico

Going back 14 years, we have used cuanto cuesta all over Mexico and never had anyone look at us like we were crazy. While we understand some of the numbers in Spanish, they usually rattle the amount off in such rapid fashion that we find hard to understand. Small pocket calculator speaks Spanish and English!

Chico wrote:Then cuanto cuesta seems to be repetitive. yes? No? Stop teasing me. chico

Is "how much does this cost" repetitive?

You seem to complicate the most simple things.