I agree that on the Freegle website, the meaning is buried away (it’s not listed in the Q&A section). They should be a lot clearer about what freegle means, seeing how it is a neologism.

As far as I can see, there is no section on the Freegle website which dictates the use of language to the community (most of the examples I cited were taken from message boards/forums/other websites, and presumably invented by people other than Freegle administrators). Also, the term does not appear to be trademarked. But please let me know if I missed something!

Are you a member / admin of Freegle? If you are can you be open about it please. Apologies if I have read this wrong and you’re just an innocent bystander but these comments do look like there’s some reputation management at hand.

In reply to both of your comments:

Hoover is a registered mark too, and no doubt the owner of the mark has a rigid set of terms of use of their name. That never stopped people talking about hoovering. Other brands come and go, but the colloquial use of hoover as a verb describing the use of a vacuum cleaner remains. Technology changes and some people do now say dyson in place of hoover, but most of the people I know say they are hoovering when they are, in fact, dysoning.

Companies own trademarks, but it’s hard to own language. Meaning is negotiated not dictated. This is perhaps a more acute issue with projects such as Freecycle & Freegle which are run as communities. In open communities, members will want to own their own terms and language. The trademark instructions you quote are probably indicative of the frustrating rules that have contributed to a split in the Freecycle community.

It’s a shame then that Freegle is making the same mistakes about dictating the use of language to the community, especially as its members will have to work so hard to find and understand the preferred meaning which is buried away on one page of the website ( http://www.ilovefreegle.org/about/ ).

Having perused http://www.ilovefreegle.org, it looks as if Freegle stands for “FREEly Given, Locally, Easily”. This tagline places the emphasis on the giving aspects of freegling. While this is not immediately obvious from looking at the word “freegle” itself, it is likely that the use of such slogans will increase public recognition that Freegle is indeed about giving, rather than simply obtaining free goods. Also, people are now much more used to the whole concept of reusing, and realise that in order for these groups to exist, there must be givers as well as receivers. Finally, one of the main reasons people use these groups is to declutter and get rid of “junk”, and once the name Freegle gains recognition, people will know where to get rid of stuff they no longer want or need.

freegle

1. (verb) To search for free goods on the internet.

2. (verb) To offer unwanted possessions on the internet for free, as opposed to selling them.

On the Freegle website – http://www.ilovefreegle.org/ – it is used as a verb in the sentence: “We hope you enjoy freegling with the freegle community!”

Cat above gave another good example – “Have you freegled today?”

I’ve also seen constructions such as “freegling is what freeglers do” and “don’t throw it away – freegle it!”.

None of these are any more far-fetched than “freecycling”, “to freecycle”, or “freecycler”. Incidentally, The Freecycle Network strongly objects to the use of these terms and calls them a trademark infringement. See this page: http://www.freecycle.org/faq/faq/faq_contrademark :

When using the term “Freecycle” please do the following:

1. While “The Freecycle Network” is a trade name, it also functions as a service mark — i.e., a source indicator — so it is okay to use a TM with it.

For example: The Freecycle Network(TM)

When used as a trade name (think proper name), the term “Freecycle” may be used in place of “The Freecycle Network” to allow sentences to be more concise.

For example: While The Freecycle Network has been growing by leaps and bounds, Freecycle also remains true to its core mission.

2. In all other cases, the term “Freecycle” must be used as an adjective, never as a noun or verb. For example:

Do not say “I’m a freecycler.”
Do say “I’m a Freecycle member.”
Do not say “Keep on freecyclin!”
Do say “Keep on recyclin’, my Freecycle friends!”
Do not say “Freecycling group.”
Do say “Freecycle group”
Do not say “Please Freecycle.”
Do say “Please join a Freecycle group.”
Do not say “There are 10 freecycles in this state.”
Do say “There are 10 Freecycle groups in this state.”
Do not say “freecycle’s membership.”
Do say “The Freecycle Network’s membership.”

3. The term “Freecycle” in text must always be capitalized to set it off from the surrounding text. Example: Freecycle groups are great!

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Seeing how, apparently, the verb “to freecycle” is off-limits, freegling is a great alternative !

Have you freegled today?