Don't confuse language semantics with language implementation. Case in point SmallTalk does actually use message passing. So does Obj C and Swift. The compiler

Don't confuse language semantics with language implementation. Case in point SmallTalk does actually use message passing. So does Obj C and Swift. The compiler can often optimize those to either virtual or direct calls, because that's simply more efficient. And once again, synchronous message passing doesn't mean it's not message passing. You just gotta get your terms and frame right.