@dredmorbius@toot.cat@categulario I've worked in tech for a few decades.
I've used tools that show their legacy, often across multiple platforms. If you're familiar with the Unix / Linux command 'dd' and its very un-unixlike syntax, that's because it's actually a mainframe command from JCL, following JCL semantics.
Similarly, there are styles and fads in command-line, GUI (especially various toolkits / IDEs / development environments), batch, interactive, mobile, Web, and App development which leave their marks. Often if you understand a tool's history, its idiosyncracies and quirks become contextualised.
There's also culture and history behind software development and the conditions in which it occurs. Internal research labs, academic development, freestanding companies, non-networked and networked code, large monopolies, shrinkwrap vs. consulting-service software, niche vs. mass-market.
None of this is rigorous analysis, mind. It's the result of decades in the industry. The phrase was a joke, initially, though it's developed a certain patina of truth / unfunnyness with time.