I also think using any quote as a thought terminating cliché is flawed. In that case I wouldn't blame the quote though, but the person using it. (I assume your

I also think using any quote as a thought terminating cliché is flawed. In that case I wouldn't blame the quote though, but the person using it. (I assume your boss probably had an interest in terminating thought. Perhaps the project was invested in the language and it was just not feasible to change? Perhaps he didn't have an answer to your valid criticism? Just speculation...) In most cases I have encountered people uttering this quote they were using it as a mere observation of the statistical fact that a large group of users will inevitably lead to a larger amount of complaints. And the conclusion was usually something like: "Don't blindly disregard a language, because many people hate it. Always take a closer look if the tool is up to the job."