The thinking behind keeping the "weird historical" /usr is that it parallels other operating systems that (mostly) store their stuff in a subtree that is under

The thinking behind keeping the "weird historical" /usr is that it parallels other operating systems that (mostly) store their stuff in a subtree that is under a single subdirectory of the root. Think \OS2, \DOS, and \WINDOWS for starters. Also remember \LINUX from the world of LOADLIN.