Talk:freebooter

Sense of / association with “footloose”

In addition to the literal (and usually pejorative) meaning of “pirate”, I sense that “freebooter” is sometimes analyzed as roughly “footloose adventurer” generally, due to “free = freedom” associations (and unfamiliarity with the traditional sense), and one even sees the phrase “footloose freebooter(s)”. I’m not sure how common this association is (Collins dictionary lists a form of it, some others do not), but if and when one can dig up some citations, I think it worth adding; for now I’ll just mention it here.

—Nils von Barth (nbarth) (talk) 01:24, 25 May 2011 (UTC)