Antedating of "Free Lunch"

[Baker, John]

You have to have "free lunch" before you can have "no free lunch," so I would say yes, it is useful, at least in concept.  However, the antedating seems a bit questionable to me.  It strikes me as just a transparent collocation, rather than the later established usage of a bar that offers "free lunch" in order to sell drinks.


John Baker


-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Dan Goncharoff
Sent: Monday, January 21, 2013 5:11 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: Antedating of "Free Lunch"

Is this useful? I would be looking for "no free lunch".
DanG


On Mon, Jan 21, 2013 at 5:07 PM, Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Shapiro, Fred" <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Antedating of "Free Lunch"
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> ---------
>
> free lunch (OED 1848)
>
> 1847 _Louisville Morning Courier_ 29 July 3 (ProQuest Historical
> Newspapers=
> )  Messrs. O'MARA & GORDON open their "Washington Exchange," formerly
> the W= ashington Hall, to-day, with a free lunch.
>
> Fred Shapiro
>
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