I think there should be some sort of distinction between different meanings of "general" or "generic". One means "covering as many use cases as we can think of

I think there should be some sort of distinction between different meanings of "general" or "generic". One means "covering as many use cases as we can think of" and is criticised here. Another means "not requiring more of its inputs than necessary", which is a different thing. Haskell does the latter well, as you mention.