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"Maybe we should just settle for calling them what they call themselves, "those who wage jihad", or simply "jihadists"."

NO, this is an awful idea. Jihad is holy war.

There is nothing honorable or holy about the violence committed by militant Muhammadists. We should not dignify the efforts of militant Muhammadists by using their religious terminology.

The use of language is important in communicating the situation in time of war. In WW II, Germans and the German government were called Nazis, though you'll be hard pressed to find any German document that uses the word "Nazi". No American in 1941 would refer to WW II as a war to advance the interests of Bolsheviks and Jewish capitalists, to defile the Aryan race, and to deny Germans Lebensraum. That's what the enemy said, and only a fool would use the language of the enemy.

Why is it any different now? The enemy says he is fighting a holy war. If you call it a jihad, you're acknowledging that it is in fact a holy war and that you are in opposition to God. What could be more encouraging to religious fanatic that to have his enemy acknowledge the righteousness of his violence?

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The enemy says he is fighting a holy war. If you call it a jihad, you're acknowledging that it is in fact a holy war and that you are in opposition to God.
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While I appreciate your comment, it appears to pivot around the meaning of "holy" and by extension the authority of the deity to define what is holy and what is profane.

Jihad is war that advances the deity of Islam, Allah. Killing "infidels" is the command of this diety. I do not recognize that deity any more than I recognize Zeus or any of the deities of the several eastern religions. Islam's deity can call dog vomit holy but that does not mean anything to me, anymore than when a Christian theologian declares that water, bones, colored eggs and rabbits are "holy".

Further, I cannot dissuade the followers of this (or any) religion from defining or altering their own belief system. Quite to the contrary, advocates of Islam have forced me, without my permission, to accept or reject their offer: convert to their beliefs, submit or die.

I decline to accept their offer. I have accepted the offer of the God of Abraham and consider myself a heir of the promises that God made to him. This God defines what is holy and what is profane to me. I recognize no other authority, even as I respect the right of people to make their own choice.

If it were left to me, I would be happy to live in peace with everyone, as long as they extended the same courtesy to me. Sadly, jihadists now appear to believe that the path to their own better reward in the afterlife requires them to die while killing me and people like me. I object to them consuming me for their own selfish motives.

So this particular form of "holy war" is in fact a dangerous cancer to humanity. The first step to treating a fatal disease is to properly diagnose it, which means being able to call it for what it is.