On Sun, 2007-05-20 at 16:37 -0500, Aaron Konstam wrote:
> On Sun, 2007-05-20 at 11:34 -0400, Ric Moore wrote:
> > On Sun, 2007-05-20 at 09:54 -0400, Jim Cornette wrote:
> > > Anne Wilson wrote:
> > > >> What it stands for is the first letter of each word in "There ain't no such
> > > >> thing as a free lunch"
> > > >>
> > > > I've known the saying for as long as I can remember, though I don't recall
> > > > ever seeing the acronym before.
> > > >
> > > > Actually, I deplore the use of long acronyms that frequently mean little or
> > > > nothing to the reader.
> > > >
> > > > Anne
> > > >
> > >
> > > I despise acronyms myself. I never know what someone is referring to,
> > > especially the example put forth on the list. Stating that there was no
> > > such thing as a free lunch would have been better and understood my more
> > > readers of the list.
> >
> > True, but since it was used by Heinlein and for the most part we are
> > SciFi reading geeks, it was appropriate to quote the "Master" as he used
> > it. <g> Plus some acronyms don't bear translating, like SNAFU and STFU
> > <cackles> Ric
>
> According to Bartlett's Quotations the expression is attributed top Milton Friedman.
> --
> =======================================================================
> Research is the best place to be: you work your buns off, and if it
> works you're a hero; if it doesn't, well -- nobody else has done it yet
> either, so you're still a valiant nerd.
> =======================================================================
> Aaron Konstam telephone: (210) 656-0355 e-mail: akonstam@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
I heard this from my father in the 50's, so I knew it predated Milton
Friedmans book. Here is what I found:
The Columbia World of Quotations. 1996.
NUMBER:
3608
QUOTATION:
There is no such thing as a free
lunch.
ATTRIBUTION:
Anonymous.
An axiom from economics popular in
the 1960s, the words have no known
source, though have been dated to
the 1840s, when they were used in
saloons where snacks were offered to
customers. Ascribed to an Italian
immigrant outside Grand Central
Station, New York, in Alistair
Cooke’s America (epilogue, 1973),
the expression appears in Robert A.
Heinlein’s The Moon is a Harsh
Mistress, ch. 11 (1966), but has
become most closely associated with
economist Milton Friedman, who made
it the title of a book in 1975.
The Columbia World of Quotations. Copyright © 1996 Columbia University
Press.
It is not definitive. I also remember it being carved in the
smokehouse wall at my grandmothers. There it probably dated from the
20's during the great depression. The house was several generations
old. Unfortunately the Smokehouse was torn down in the mid 60s as I
recall. The house had hobo symbols all around it because my
grandparents and their parents before them were quite charitable. No
one left without some food and maybe some clothes if times permitted.
They were expected to split some wood or haul some coal or shovel snow,
but they got a room, sometimes a bed if possible, and a warm place to
stay. Even baths were provided, but they had to pump their own water.
It was a different time, and a hard time. But Here's to Ray and Alma.
May they live on in hearts and minds.
Regards,
Les H
