It can be argued, based on the number of people who at some point write code in C that takes the address of a stack variable and returns it back out of the func

It can be argued, based on the number of people who at some point write code in C that takes the address of a stack variable and returns it back out of the function scope, that the "less orthogonal" corner case that catches you off guard is the way C forbids that action. Do not mistake internalized concepts from a particular language as some sort of divinely approved dictate of how programming must work. This was basically Dijkstra's point in his BASIC considered harmful post... I think in 2022 it should be C considered harmful for the same reason. C is not the base truth of computation. It isn't even very good. A language smart enough to analyze taking pointers and notice it can't put something on a stack and simply take care of it is, in my opinion, the one that is not catching you off guard... specifically, the "guard" that one must take in C around what is stack versus heap.