Erik, don't you get a lot "Free! What is the catch?" looks when you say that.
I generally get that when I try to say it is free. People wonder what are
the incentives to run the network.
I generally get that when I try to say it is free. People wonder what are
the incentives to run the network.
When you tell people that sending an email is free do they ask, "what's the catch?"
And therein lies your answer. If someone asks, "well, what's the catch?" you should respond by comparing it to email. All money is digital anyway, so why does it cost so much to transfer data from one bank's server to another bank's server? It's ridiculous. When people realize that they are paying significant money so that a bank can make a database entry (and take three days to do so), they will realize that it's not Bitcoin's free transactions which are "weird" but rather it's the banks' operations which should be viewed with far greater skepticism.
See where I'm coming from? 
I do but I disagree with you on this one. Half a penny, however insignificant and small, just does not equal zero.
If someone came to you and asked how much it cost to send an email, would you tell them it's free? Because it's not. There is a tiny marginal cost to doing so, both in the extra few CPU cycles which cost electricity and also built into the cost of the ISP's monthly bill.
Nothing is perfectly free, and nothing is perfectly safe. But I tell people Bitcoin transfers are free, and I tell them they're safe. Once they understand that they're dealing with an amazing new system, and they'd like to discuss the nuances of it, then I'm happy to do so.
(also let me clarify, that I have nothing against people saying there are tiny fees with Bitcoin... It's not wrong to say that upfront, I just think either way is fine and it often depends on the context of the conversation and the audience)