though I would say altitude and not height...maybe it is a british thing.
Its because in our world we still use QFE and QNH so we use both terms depending what we are doing.
As soon as we see height we presume circuits or in a MATZ.
Altitude they must be cross country.
Oh and I have flown with commercial pilots that it still hasn't clicked after thousands of hours. And to be honest if there car driving is anything to go by they never will. Just no gut feel or touch with any machinery.