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"Free" has become a synonym to "payed by someone else". Google is "free", Facebook is "free", public transport in Paris is "free". "Free" means I give you someo

"Free" has become a synonym to "payed by someone else". Google is "free", Facebook is "free", public transport in Paris is "free". "Free" means I give you someone with no obligation from you whatsoever. In this case the citizens and businesses of Paris are paying for it, so calling it is "free" is disingenuous.

frankling_ 5y ago
What would be an example use of the word free that you would find appropriate?
- gvv 5y ago
  no fee, tax-funded I guess ^^
  - imtringued 5y ago
    tax-funded fee free public transport. We haven't gotten rid of the word free though. We are now merely fee free.
nomorewords 5y ago
Well, free does mean that you don't get to pay to use. Where the money comes from is a different question, albeit the most important one. Perhaps it would make sense to tackle overly dependence on cars by slapping a tax which is directly used to fund public transport. So the more cars you have registered, the more money goes into public transport so that it can compete better, without getting left behind.
imtringued 5y ago
These types of comments are so overdone. Free just means free of charge. It means you, the customer or user do not have to pay for the service. It never meant that nobody pays for it, that's an internet boogeyman/meme that is circulating. Yes, taxed citizens are paying for it, but they are not paying for the service. Everything that is free still has to be provided by someone, it has always been that way since the existence of the universe. Dirt is free and you can turn it into bricks to build a house but you are relying on the existence of the earth and therefore the existence of the universe. If these comments were followed to their logical conclusion the word free shouldn't exist because nothing can be free. Thanks, now we have to come up with another word for "user doesn't get charged".
- redleader55 5y ago
  You're jumping to conclusions. I didn't disagree with the measure, I didn't start a thread on "taxation is theft" nothing like that. I just dislike the word "free" because it hides something and it does that with intent. People tend to value something more when they pay for it if they work for it. This is why IKEA works. In this line, I think an announcement like "This Saturday your ride is sponsored from your taxes, please enjoy it" would be more fair and would probably do more good in the long term.
immibis 5y ago
Free as in libre, then

frankling_ 5y ago

What would be an example use of the word free that you would find appropriate?

gvv 5y ago
no fee, tax-funded I guess ^^
- imtringued 5y ago
  tax-funded fee free public transport. We haven't gotten rid of the word free though. We are now merely fee free.

nomorewords 5y ago

Well, free does mean that you don't get to pay to use. Where the money comes from is a different question, albeit the most important one. Perhaps it would make sense to tackle overly dependence on cars by slapping a tax which is directly used to fund public transport. So the more cars you have registered, the more money goes into public transport so that it can compete better, without getting left behind.

imtringued 5y ago

These types of comments are so overdone. Free just means free of charge. It means you, the customer or user do not have to pay for the service. It never meant that nobody pays for it, that's an internet boogeyman/meme that is circulating. Yes, taxed citizens are paying for it, but they are not paying for the service. Everything that is free still has to be provided by someone, it has always been that way since the existence of the universe. Dirt is free and you can turn it into bricks to build a house but you are relying on the existence of the earth and therefore the existence of the universe. If these comments were followed to their logical conclusion the word free shouldn't exist because nothing can be free. Thanks, now we have to come up with another word for "user doesn't get charged".

redleader55 5y ago
You're jumping to conclusions. I didn't disagree with the measure, I didn't start a thread on "taxation is theft" nothing like that. I just dislike the word "free" because it hides something and it does that with intent. People tend to value something more when they pay for it if they work for it. This is why IKEA works. In this line, I think an announcement like "This Saturday your ride is sponsored from your taxes, please enjoy it" would be more fair and would probably do more good in the long term.

immibis 5y ago

Free as in libre, then