[chromatic]

The reader should be able to work out what is intended by the code with minimal requirements placed on them....

That's where the argument goes wrong, if the idea of "minimal requirements" means "avoid idioms".

[jessedhillon]

Well, I'd welcome an explanation of your opinion here.

[chromatic]

Unless I'm writing training material for novices, I write code with the assumption that anyone else maintaining it is reasonably competent with the languages, libraries, and tools in question. That to me is a minimal requirement.