Most people call USB-A "USB." So if someone says "there's no USB port here," they mean "there's no USB-A port here."

I would tend to disagree, in a way. On a USB-C port there is USB, there might be display port and there might be thunderbolt. But only if I have the correct cable (sure, then it is a TB3 cable, not a USB-C cable). But explain that to the average Joe? Everything I connect to a USB-A port kind of works, if I add the driver.

Not everything I connect to a USB-C port works.

> USB C is just as much standard USB as USB A is.

Not in the sense of "if you buy a device, this is probably the connector it has". The fact that it's defined by USB-IF or whoever doesn't mean that USB-C devices are common or inexpensive.