I think it's because the commands are poorly named. "Reset" vs. "Revert" tells me nothing about what is happening at the low level, I just have to remember it.

I think it's because the commands are poorly named. "Reset" vs. "Revert" tells me nothing about what is happening at the low level, I just have to remember it. And yet the two operations, despite having fairly similar English language meanings, have entirely different meanings in the context of Git.