There's no such thing as a free lunch!

The other day when I talked about the saying "You get what you pay for" I was reminded of another common proverb about money:

There's no such thing as a free lunch.

Have you ever heard this before? You can see thefreedictionary entry HERE. This simply means that even when someone gives you something for "free" eventually you have to pay for it in SOME way. For example:

-you get a free lunch BUT you have to sit through a talk about a time-share

-you get a free sample BUT you have to answer a survey

-your friend invites you out for dinner BUT then asks you to help him move!

So as you can see, everything costs something, nothing is free--you will always have to give or do something in return.

We use this saying when something you THOUGHT was free turns out to require some kind of payment-either money or you have to do something for it.

A: Man, I was offered a free trip to Las Vegas but then I got stuck listening to a 7 hour time-share sales seminar!!! It really, sucked! What a waste of my time...

B: Well, you know there's no such thing as a free lunch.

A: Yeah, I know. I should've known there'd be strings attached!

Do you know that last idiom? It comes from the expression "with no strings attached" meaning there are NO CONDITIONs or obligations involved. Actually, it goes against the saying "There's no such thing as a free lunch" which means there are ALWAYS strings attached! You always have to do/pay something to get something!

Have a good week,

Phil