Saturday, 4 June 2016

"There's No Such Thing As A Free Lunch."

Saturday Proverb:

Proverb: "There's no such thing as a free lunch."




Meaning:

Things that are offered for free always have a hidden cost.


History / Interesting Fact:

The "free lunch" refers to the once-common tradition of saloons in the United States providing a ”free” lunch to patrons who had purchased at least one drink. Many foods on offer were high in salt – for example: ham / cheese and salted crackers - so those who ate them ended up buying a lot of beer.

Rudyard Kipling in 1891 noted the following
...came upon a bar-room full of bad Salon pictures, in which men with hats on the backs of their heads were wolfing food from a counter. It was the institution of the "free lunch" I had struck. You paid for a drink and got as much as you wanted to eat. For something less than a rupee a day a man can feed himself sumptuously in San Francisco, even though he be a bankrupt. Remember this if ever you are stranded in these parts.

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