FYI - complaint to ASIC re short selling, page-60

Semantics. Don't forget to cite your source.

Here's mine:
A method by which the market capitalization of an index's underlying companies is calculated. Free-float methodology market capitalization is calculated by taking the equity's price and multiplying it by the number of shares readily available in the market. Instead of using all of the shares outstanding like the full-market capitalization method, the free-float method excludes locked-in shares such as those held by promoters and governments.

My loose use of the term free float, in the context of my narrative (and context is everything), was to assist in quickly describing those shares that not readily available in the market. Shares locked in the bottom drawer by a long-term investor are not readily available to the market due to the decision made by said long-term investor to hold them - notwithstanding that there are no trading restrictions attached to them.

This pedantry is a distraction that doesn't change the point that was being made.