Surely ATC comms has its own stripped down, interrogative, syntax, which is designed to avoid this very problem?
Agree though that it is abused by many, including some supposedly in the anglophone world. Quite what are certain JFK controllers, remarkable though they are, trying to prove is unclear. Either they are there to communicate or they are not.
Perhaps the greatest relief here is that it wasn't a mayday (at night, in solid IMC).