[mjburgess]

Yes, I think it comes from the kind of metaphorical language that writing programs induces. If artists "kinda lie" when describing how their art represents some emotion or reality, likewise, computer scientists are also engaged in this 'metaphorical representation' game -- unlike the science, which aim to actually represent, not metaphorically.

This also drives me mad reading many a computer science paper now -- the disrespect for the ordinary meaning of words is only so obscene in the most radical kinds of poetry. This feels wholly out of place in anything called a 'science', and leads to endless amounts of confusion.

There are none in all of academia so brazen in a poetic use of language and at the same time so incurious as to its meaning.