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Let me pay for Firefox

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802 points csmantle | 2 comments | 13 Jul 25 08:38 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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jurgenaut23 ◴[13 Jul 25 09:41 UTC] No.44548891[source]▶
I think it’s fascinating how languages shape our society. In this case, the ambiguity between free as in “at no cost” and free as in “freedom” is probably hurting the FOSS landscape. In French, there are two very distinct terms for this: “gratuit” vs “libre”. And it doesn’t sound as an oxymoron to pay for a “logiciel libre”.
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LeoPanthera ◴[13 Jul 25 09:46 UTC] No.44548921[source]▶
“Gratis” meaning “no cost” is an English word, albeit an uncommonly used one.
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yawpitch ◴[13 Jul 25 09:58 UTC] No.44548986[source]▶
Technically that’s a Latin word that just happens to have kept the same spelling and meaning in English.
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1. dpassens ◴[13 Jul 25 10:04 UTC] No.44549018[source]▶
> kept the same spelling and meaning in English

So it's also an English word, then?

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2. yawpitch ◴[13 Jul 25 12:07 UTC] No.44549770[source]▶
Arguably it’s really only an English word once it deviates from the original spelling and meaning. Like how the original British English “Aluminum” is now the American English word for the metal represented by the newer British English “Aluminium”, all of which borrowed from, but didn’t outright steal, the Latin roots.