Yeah, I get that about lost in translation. His (current) Holiness Pope Benedict has had his words mistranslated a time or two from the Italian to English with the result of the Holy See having to correct what the reporter or translator WANTED him to say.
That's why I have used specific Judo terms to describe some throws and other techniques. It's like Latin in the Church and in medicine, you go back to the source language and compare the term to the technique (in this specific instance) and it leaves little room for confusion.
Yet having done that, at least one most notable person on this site, and a few others have accused me of being wordy and pretentious. But your point is well taken.
A metaphor such as you describe is not necessarily a bad thing in and of itself. But if the idea or concept or technique it represents is not explained in a language clear enough for the listener or student to understand, than it is merely mannered blah-blah-blah. Kind of like when McCallum in The Keys to Progress said to get a good muscular rebound for the press behind the neck. I never quite figured out what he meant by that. But I suspect it was something along the lines of what is very well described for the eccentric portion of the squat in Starting Strength.