> So, many researchers don't use terms with due care. And many article are rejected by Nature.
The reason is much simpler: many (most) researchers are not native English speakers. For example, my doctoral advisor (who knows English well, but is not a native speaker) could hardly help me with questions concerning more subtle aspects of English terms used in the research area. He told me that hardly anybody cares. Even more: when you look for examples, you always have to consider the situation that a word is used wrongly because the author who comes from an arbitrary country does not know better.
Even more: sometimes I do ask native English speakers about subtle aspects of the English language. My impression from this is: while it is not uncommon among native German speakers to deeply analyze German words, various native English speakers independently told me that doing such an analysis "is not how the English language works" (or how native English speakers think about their language).
> while it is not uncommon among native German speakers to deeply analyze German words, various native English speakers independently told me that doing such an analysis "is not how the English language works" (or how native English speakers think about their language).
I'm tempted to question this idea that English speakers are just unconcerned with their own language, but then I'm not entirely sure what you have in mind when you speak of "deep [linguistic] analysis" (or a lack thereof). Can you provide an example?
https://www.nature.com/articles/s43588-023-00589-x
Here is one in Nature Physics
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41567-023-02325-8
Here is one in Nature Precedings
https://www.nature.com/articles/npre.2011.5593.1
And here is one in Nature Communications
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-44008-1
It isn't a matter of a lack of due care - it just really really doesn't matter which term you use as long as your meaning is clear.