We look at the header for this blog every day and never think twice about it. It’s the Freelance Writing Jobs Network, a blog network and community for freelance writers.
But are we all really “freelance writers?” Or “free lance writers?” Or, to complicate things further, might we be “free-lance writers?”
Deb, you’ve got it right. It’s freelance. It wasn’t always, but it is now. “Freelance” is one of those words like “email” where the hyphen has been dropped.
Freelancing’s Gray Area
Those who run free lance writing blogs or even “free-lance” writing blogs aren’t exactly wrong. Dictionary.com, which draws its information from a variety of reputable dictionaries including the American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition, and The Random House Dictionary, 2010, permits all three as correct usage: freelance, free lance, and free-lance.
I’m pretty sure at one point, years ago, the AP Stylebook preferred the hyphenated “free-lance,” but no longer. The latest edition, for 2009, says its “freelance.” I can’t find a listing in the hefty and comprehensive Chicago Manual of Style.
Word Origins
According to most sources, the word was coined by Sir Walter Scott and was originally a noun:
“He’s a free lance.”
At that time, it was two words. (People weren’t in as much of a hurry back then.) It was used to describe a medieval mercenary warrior. Since a lance is a knight’s weapon, a knight was a literally a “free” lance — as in “available for hire,” not “no-cost.” (Something people who expect writers to work for no monetary compensation should remember.)
By 1882, journalists adopted it to describe a writer working independently, with no employment ties to one specific organization. We started using it as a verb in 1903 and today, the word can be used as a verb, adverb or adjective, and (rarely in conversation) as a noun. (“Certainly shows the versatility of the word!” Boondock Saints)
Examples:
“I’m freelancing now and I love it.” (verb)
“She’s a freelance writer.” (adjective)
“I work freelance.” (adverb)
SEO Usage
Now that we’ve established freelance, free-lance and free lance are all correct, if not commonly used, it leads to another question. “Freelance” gets way more searches on Google than free lance. So “freelance” is not only commonly accepted usage, it’s smart SEO.
I’m firmly in the freelance camp. I’m not a knight, and while I am a freeman rather than a slave or lord’s man, I expect to be paid WAY more than the free lancers of the past.
In those days that is what the “free” meant. Most knights were property of king and country. To be a free knight, or free lance, basically meant you were a mercenary with no loyalty but you were good fodder for a lord’s enemies to blunt their blades and break their lances upon.
My mind is trying to visualize the term “freelance” as a noun. Can you give an example, please?
.-= Rebecca Laffar-Smith´s last blog ..Writing Inspiration Through Art =-.
Rebecca,
Thanks for commenting! I’m glad being a freelancer today is a lot less violent (mostly).
I intentionally left out an example of freelance as a noun because, even though it’s grammatically correct, it’s fallen out of common usage. We add the “r” now, as in, “She’s a freelancer.”
Back in the day, you might have asked: “Who does that knight work for?”
“He’s a free lance.”
Free is the adverb to describe, “What kind of ‘lance’ is he?”
Today, since we combine the two words, we can use it in the same way, but we typically don’t.
“What kind of writer is she? She’s a freelance.”
Thanks for adding that clarity, Dawn.
I know I tend to say, “I’m a freelancer” rather than, “I’m a freelance”. Being a “freelance” makes me think too much about the “lance” part of it. My pen might be a little like a mini-lance, with the power to knock people from their horses through the sheer strength and skill of my writing. And I guess there are many industries that have freelances (people spearheading their business are a lance of sorts) but I like having the word “writer” to define what kind of freelance I am. Especially since I’m also a freelance Web technician.
.-= Rebecca Laffar-Smith´s last blog ..Sensory Description Connects With Readers =-.
Way back in the hot-lead days of newspapers, AP Style was free-lance. I didn’t bother to look it up again until last year and was surprised to see they’d changed it. I prefer freelance, personally.
Let’s hope AP catches up with “website” and “email,” as well. The present form is irritating to the eye and my fingers rebel when forced to type Web site and e-mail.
Interesting, but there’s a grammatical error in the first paragraph of this. You look at the header for this blog “every day,” “not everyday.” As one word, everyday is an adjective and means common or quotidian, as in:
“I wore my everyday coat to church because I couldn’t find my fur coat.”
Hope that helps.
Scarlett,
::blush:: Thanks for pointing that out. Editing now.
Everyday/every day is one of my frequent slip ups, even though I KNOW the correct word to use, sometimes my fingers forget it. And I was busy stressing over whether “The” should be italicized in the Freelance Writing Jobs Network.
Dawn
Thanks to Dawn for posting this.It’s great to see that there are people who truly respects freelancing jobs…:)
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