William, If you look at the words used in menus, you will find a similar problem. Certain commands seem to always appear under file, edit and view, but other commands are found under insert in one program and under tools in another. Likewise, those who use key commands have to learn a new one with every program. What is lacking is a set of standards for presenting menu options, icons and key commands that is used in all programs. Words are really not any more precise.
Simple words can be encompass a wide range of meaning.
All of these specifics can be included in the same graphical presentation. If for some reason you wanted to know what I look like, it would take a great many words, some of them quite equivocable, but I can easily and less equivocably accomplish the same goal by sending a picture of myself. I'm open to suggestions for another way to put this into words so that it can become an effective guideline. If all graphics used as illustrations aren't perfectly wonderful, it will be no different than the original requirement to include an alt tag that had to be re-defined to specify that the alt tag should be more than naming the graphic and more than a blank, but doesn't specify what exactly has to be stated in the tag. It's a judgement call what words to use, whether to use a single word, a phrase or sentence, or if a longer description must be included.