MetaChat - Is it "free rein," or "free reign"?

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14 February 2009

Is it "free rein," or "free reign"? →[More:]Both make sense. If it's rein, it could mean free from the reins, and thus free to go wherever. Free reign -- could be free to *do* whatever.

I always assumed it was the latter (though I don't think I've ever put it in writing), but I just saw the former in the NYT.

So which is it?

post by: mudpuppie at: 13:42 | 29 comments

It's free rein.. horse-tastic.

posted by By the Grace of God 14 February | 13:46

Rein.

posted by essexjan 14 February | 13:46

Rein. . .Although a monarch with free reign would not be that great of a deal, either.

posted by danf 14 February | 13:57

Yeah, I'd go with rein too.

posted by richat 14 February | 14:25

Learned something. Thanks.

posted by mudpuppie 14 February | 14:44

Merriam-Webster says "free rein"

posted by grouse 14 February | 14:50

Huh. That sucks, I will have to completely adjust my internal mental imagery now. Free reign, noblesse oblige, l'etat c'est moi, etc etc... Free rein sucks.

posted by Meatbomb 14 February | 15:12

Well it seems like you can't really give someone "free reign"; they'd pretty much, by definition, take it for themselves. So "free rein" is (I think) a more interesting metaphor, because it implies that someone else is still nominally in charge and could grab back the reins at any moment.

(That said, it's one of the homophones that I always have to double-check, because I screw it up on a regular basis.)

posted by occhiblu 14 February | 15:33

Rein.

posted by Miko 14 February | 15:40

Did not know that.

posted by CitrusFreak12 14 February | 15:49

≡ Click to see image ≡Free Rain!

posted by ooga_booga 14 February | 15:49

I totally thought it was "reign." Interesting.

posted by BoringPostcards 14 February | 16:22

free rainbaby.

posted by special-k 14 February | 16:49

rainbaby thought it was reign too. Huh.

posted by rainbaby 14 February | 19:59

In terms of usage, the internets seems to think it's "free reign", as well.

"free reign over" vs. "free rein over"

"free reign to" vs. "free rein to"

I've always thought it was "reign", btw. "Rein" just looks flat-out wrong, like a dumb misspelling.

posted by Rhaomi 14 February | 20:11

The internets are wrong in this case. It's an eggcorn caused by unfamiliarity with horses and carriages. Unfortunately, so many people know nothing about the idiom that dictionaries are beginning to accept "reign," which would be a real shame. I'd rather see a wonderful idiom like "free rein" fall into complete disuse than be corrupted by popular ignorance. See also "reins of power;" lots of folks use "reigns" there, but where's the sense in that? Weird.

posted by Hugh Janus 14 February | 20:41

The internets are wrong in this case.

I agree. Which shows that popular usage is not always the arbiter of correctness.

posted by Jaltcoh 14 February | 21:14

"Rein" just looks flat-out wrong, like a dumb misspelling.

Nope.

posted by Jaltcoh 14 February | 21:15

In terms of usage, the internets seems to think it's "free reign", as well.

Thereby proving once again why doing a Google-off is a bad way to find out how to spell something.

posted by grouse 14 February | 21:30

I also totally thought it was "reign" Huh.

posted by rhapsodie 14 February | 21:46

I assumed it was rein because the opposite of giving you free rein is to keep a tight rein on you. Reign just would not work.

posted by arse_hat 14 February | 22:28

The internets are totally wrong in this case, and I'd give it the status of a malaprop over that of an eggcorn - it's rein as in horse, because to 'give a horse a free rein' makes sense, whereas monarchs don't have control over their reigns (barring abdication, of course, but that's an anomaly) - reigns are bound by birth, death and sometimes Acts of Parliament or certain sections of appropriate Constitutions.

posted by goo 14 February | 23:27

I used to ride: free rein.

posted by brujita 15 February | 01:51

>I agree. Which shows that popular usage
>is not always the arbiter of
>correctness.

What good is correctness when nobody knows what the hell you're talking about? It's almost a burden knowing these things. Like the true pronunciation of "forte"... Now you get to feel like a moron no matter how you use it because half of everybody will think you're wrong no matter what you do.

I like free reign, because it feels like an emphasizer. Dude doesn't just have power, dude has huge exaggerated power without boundaries. Which is actually a pretty significant difference than the alternative idea that the reins can be taken back...

posted by Skwirl 15 February | 06:08

Wow, it never even occurred to me to use "free reign". I must be awesome.

posted by gaspode 15 February | 10:13

Now you get to feel like a moron no matter how you use it because half of everybody will think you're wrong no matter what you do.

No, you get to feel smart because you know the truth of the matter, and you can enlighten anyone who tries to correct you. Then you've done sense and understanding a service. What's moronic is sticking with falsity once you've been enlightened, for any reason.

posted by Hugh Janus 15 February | 10:57

Which is actually a pretty significant difference than the alternative idea that the reins can be taken back...

True. But I would venture to guess that that absolute power is very rarely literally true when the metaphor is used, and that in general someone else can (and will) take back control again.

(Now I'm seriously starting to wonder if "free reign" gained more traction during the Bush years. Did we start accepting images of irreversible power grabs more in the last eight years?)

posted by occhiblu 15 February | 11:06

Reign, reign, go away.

posted by box 15 February | 11:45

*high fives gaspode* We're both awesome!

Also: English is a living language. And living languages change; words are added, some are no longer used, pronunciations change and yes, word usage changes.

posted by deborah 15 February | 16:06

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