People can be incredibly touchy about such things , and I do agree saying something is plasticy definately has a conotation that its crap.. I fish carbon rods now I think they are wonderful I am old enough to remember cane , greenheart and fibreglass and remember the blisters,

However calling a rod a pole or whatever is fine by me. As long as people enjoy their fishing and dont impact on others its fine.

There are benefits to be had from this type of thing though some years ago my fellow directors were desperate for me to become a golfer much against my will , but to the extent they bought me clubs and lessons however after arriving at their clubhouse with my new clubs complete with my new walt disney club head covers ,I beleive the 3 wood cover was a bright yellow daffy duck which I thought very colourful. and by referring to my clubs as bats ( they really hated that) and generally been as loud as possible around the greens I found that golf invites became a thing of the past. I think on hindsight if I had referred to their club shafts as been plastic I think they would have buried me in a bunker...