Yes, it does tend to throw people off when you treat them as if they're using words to some purpose other than the production of noise.
She doesn't want to come out and say, "Shacking up is the same as marriage," because that's provably false in terms of the long range (or even short range) outcome, especially for children ... but she also doesn't want to be old-fashioned or judgmental and say that parents should be married to each other ... ah, the trials of a modern "journalist."
Yes, exactly. People are not prepared to be held accountable for the words they use, it seems.
Once I was having a convo with someone who was really misusing 'hearsay.' They used it as a substitute for 'something I think is a lie' and didn't have the stones to actually say it.
I was in a particularly combative mood and explained nicely that what they were saying was not an example of hearsay. This prompted an explanation of how 'they were using' the word, and explaining it.
After some self serving words on their part, I just flatly told them that was fine, but that's not what hearsay means and has never meant that. Their own private definition aside, they were just wrong.
People in earshot laughed at them. That's a good thing, I think.