TANSTAAFL

(For other uses see the disambiguation page TANSTAAFL

An initialism for There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch. Pronounced "tan-staffle." 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.