In reply to cb_6:
I think we’re fighting a losing battle here. In the past nobody knew, or even thought they knew, anything about climbing unless they were a climber. Today, everyone has seen impressive climbing feats on the TV (often with commentary by people who knew little about it) and so most think they know something about it. Most punters know for certain that free climbing means climbing without ropes. On occasions (I’ve learnt more sense recently) I’ve tried to enlighten the odd non-climbing friend but I rarely seem to get anywhere - they just don't believe what you say. Many non-climbers just cannot seem to take on board the difference between gear for aid and gear for protection, so understanding what aid climbing back in the 50s & 60s was, as distinct from free climbing, is quite beyond many.
Perhaps climbers should put an embargo on the phrase free climbing, neither using it nor admitting to hearing it. We don’t really need the term any more, as aid climbing per se, as opposed to use of the odd point of aid, doesn’t really exist (apart from dry tooling). So instead of asking whether such-a-body climbed their new wonder route free, just ask whether they used any aid. Let’s just leave the term free climbing for non-climbers to play with amongst themselves.