Free as in Speach or Free as in Beer?

I never understood this line when discussing Open-Source Software. Richard Stallman attempted to clarify the differences in Open-Source distribution models by saying “Free as in speach, not free as in beer”.

“Free as in beer” is meant to signify a gratis, or no-cost (no money) distribution (but it is not necessarily free to do with as you please), while “Free as in speach” is meant to represent freedom of use – with little or no restrictions.

When was the last time you received free beer?

And if you did receive a free beer, couldn’t you do with it as you pleased? Like drink it or maybe even give it to another friend because you know if you drink more, you’ll have no cognitive functions left to try and understand what the stupid phrase “Free as in speach, but not free as in beer” means?

I think we shud shtop wif fis analogie. It surtanly onli cnfsed me mur. Hiccup.

Wikipedia explains it well enough by saying Gratis vs Libre

See? Latin is still useful!

Hiccup.