Humans commonly engage in deceptive rhetoric, and tone is one of the methods they use. Often, the individual may not even be doing it with substantial intention.
Wordplay is another, and there is plenty of it in this HN thread.
Wordplay is another, and there is plenty of it in this HN thread.
Boy that Einstein fellow's paper sure had a gruff tone I'm sticking with Newton!
Science uses a watered down but more ~practical form of epistemology, for example equating the knowledge of scientists with all of reality (There is no evidence [that I know of]). Some disciplines (military) use special language to circumvent this problem, at least sometimes.
There is what is true, and then there is the human experience of it, and scientists like most other humans mix the two up regularly. Doing otherwise is "pedantic", and is strongly culturally discouraged.