tower replies: where is the engine now
Well that controller should be fired for being so dense. If you can't ascertain what the pilot meant with his statement, then you are not fit to control that aircraft.
That is the difference with the RT police. They are so busy with the language that they forget about the message. A personality trait in many terrible pilots, people who will go down in flames with a book on their lap. Most try to compensate for their incompetence by over-emphasizing the minutia.
I can't believe airline psych evaluations haven't evolved to weed out such personalities.