Folks, the answer to any question that asks why something is inconsistent or weird or oddly worded is likely the same...

We're a very old site. Our community is old. Stuff was created and added to over the years, and often while we tried to remain consistent, we're human and so that didn't always happen.

I know you're all looking for some grand rationale that puts these things into some sort of logical perspective, but sadly I have none to offer. It's just the way things were devised at the time, and sometimes there's not a lot of rhyme or reason to it...