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Let me pay for Firefox

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802 points csmantle | 1 comments | 13 Jul 25 08:38 UTC | HN request time: 0.34s | 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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GLdRH ◴[13 Jul 25 10:06 UTC] No.44549026[source]▶
Isn't English actually the only language where "free" can also mean "at no cost"?

German is the same as French in this regard, we have "kostenlos" (literally cost-less) "gratis" (the same) and "umsonst" (which interestingly can also mean "in vain").

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eurleif ◴[13 Jul 25 10:12 UTC] No.44549067[source]▶
The German "frei" can mean "free of charge" sometimes: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/frei#Usage_notes
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1. GLdRH ◴[13 Jul 25 10:17 UTC] No.44549098[source]▶
How could I forget about Freibier. Unverzeihlich.