I'm sure I'll get some responses to this from over the pond, but isn't this just a rather poorly judged extension of the Americans' penchant for folksy, non-standard, and non-ICAO compliant RT? When I've flown there it's been really hard to make the switch from the folksy to the
properly professional (when that happens). Little things like the US habit of always saying "twelve sixty four" instead of the ICAO standard "one two six four" are a perennial irritation over here (Europe) too.
Having said that, the US has the best ATC system in the world in terms of the incident rate per 10,000 hrs.
I am reminded of the TV documentary some years ago where a bearded, lumberjack-shirted ground controller at JFK was interviewed on camera WHILE CONTROLLING IN LVPs, speaking to camera in between instructing taxi-ing aircraft which were lost in the fog and didn't know where they were. Amazing! Sacking offence in the UK for sure.
NS