No such thing as a free lunch

March 1, 2007 on 5:46 pm | In Culture, Language | | Email This Post

We interrupt our regularly scheduled program of random Japan wackiness, to bring you this linguistic cultural treat.

「ただより高い物は無い」(tada yori takai mono ha nai)

Nothing is more expensive, than “free”.

It is commonly used with the nuance of, even if you get something for free, there will certainly be a price to pay for it later… in some form or another. Scary.

However, this Japanese websites author has his own personal take on it.

Basically, he goes on saying, “So how much did your eyes cost?” “they were free”. Then gets into, “so I’ll give you 100,000 dollars for them… no? How about 1,000,000 dollars?”

Things that were given to us for free, our bodies, emotions, etc, are in fact priceless.

This interpretation is much nicer than the generally accepted negative interpretation, don’t you think?

No such thing as a free lunch… (Thanks for the link tip Clive!)

- Harvey

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4 Comments »

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  1. Gravatar

    TANSTAAFL!

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanstaafl

    Comment by Clive — March 2, 2007 #

  2. Gravatar

    Thanks for the link Clive! I incorporated it into the post!

    Comment by harvey — March 2, 2007 #

  3. Gravatar

    Cool! Heinlein’s impact with the saying is apparent in a lot of the science fiction references you can find.

    I remember once seeing a sci-fi story based in some frontier colony called the Tanstaafl Republic. :)

    Comment by Clive — March 3, 2007 #

  4. Gravatar

    I immediately thought “TANSTAAFL” when I read this post, too :D

    What an interesting phrase! I like both interpretations.

    Comment by Heather Meadows — March 4, 2007 #

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