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TANSTAAFL 

Acronym for: "There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch"

Accredited to author Robert A. Heinlein in his novel "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress"
TANSTAAFL is the golden rule.
TANSTAAFL by Depherios November 15, 2003
Related Words

TANSTAAFL 

Abbreviation

A common shorthand for the colloquialism "There ain't no such things as a free lunch" implying that anything, as free as it may appear, has a real hidden cost.
(SMS)

Fred: WTF!? My stay was comped, but at checkout they charged me 4 the cable, phone, and internet!

Barney: TANSTAAFL
TANSTAAFL by Guesty Sueless May 31, 2010

tanstaafl 

There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch
tanstaafl by Flamin Homer May 31, 2003

TNSTAAFL 

/TAN-staf-ful/ intj,n,v: "There's no such thing as a free lunch." Coined from Robert Heinlein's "Stranger in a Strange Land." Ended up on the Martian flag.

Also appears in several other Heinlein novels, including "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress," where all restaurants served the meal free, but charged heftily for beverages, etc.

More widely used around the time the book was first published, but can still be found circulating in dark basement apartments and gaming stores everywhere.
"I told you she'd be wanting payback for those smokes, man. TNSTAAFL."

"I answered that ad for a free RAZR and now all I get in my inbox is spam. TNSTAAFL strikes again."

"That new pizza joint totally TNSTAAFLed us."
TNSTAAFL by somnambulist June 11, 2006

TANSTAAFL 

T.here A.in't N.o S.uch T.hing A.s A. F.ree L.unch
Something advertised as being "free" will invariably have hidden costs.
Kid: Woah, why does Facebook have a whole bunch of Ads on their site all of a sudden?
Teacher: TANSTAAFL
TANSTAAFL by JBLuverxo<3 November 18, 2011

tinstaafl 

there is no such thing as a free lunch; for everything everywhere, someone somewhere had to work for it
When Bob tried to get away with cheating on his math test, his teacher said, "Tinstaafl," and gave him a score of zero.
tinstaafl by Jim Downard October 4, 2003
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