TANSTAAFL

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TANSTAAFL (catchphrase) /
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(For other uses see the disambiguation page TANSTAAFL

An initialism for There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch. Pronounced "TAHN-stah-fle." It has been popular as a fannish catchphrase since it appeared in Heinlein's novel, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. Heinlein may have been first to initialize it, but he did not originate the phrase.

It was a byword of the Ann Arbor sf club the Stilyagi Air Corps, for obvious reasons.


Fanspeak
This is a fanspeak page. Please extend it by adding information about when and by whom it was coined, whether it’s still in use, etc.