You're pushing my analogy too far. I don't think anyone could look at most modern syntaxes and draw an immediate connection to what smalltalk means, regardless

You're pushing my analogy too far. I don't think anyone could look at most modern syntaxes and draw an immediate connection to what smalltalk means, regardless of how simple it is. But the real point I was trying to drive home was that syntax is unimportant in the grand scheme of things, and if you feel the compulsion to split hairs over syntax, I would argue that similarity to other commonly used languages is more important.