~ “There ain’t no such thing as a
free lunch.”
~ alternatively,
“There is no such thing as a free lunch” or other variants, is a popular adage
communicating the idea that it is impossible to get something for nothing. The
phrase was in use by the 1930s, but its first appearance is unknown. The “free
lunch” in the saying refers to the 19th-century practice in American
bars of offering a “free lunch” in order to entice drinking customers.
There ain’t no such thing as a free
lunch, but there was no cashier in sight as this alpaca enjoyed its “boxed
lunch” on a late November afternoon at the Lehigh Valley Zoo in Trexler Nature
Preserve, Schnecksville, Pennsylvania.
A boxed lunch is a lunch or light
meal packed in a cardboard box or similar container.
