Jeez, yeah. People want to put their own mark on things. Doesn't mean the new term is "something completely different." And "Amateur Professional" is simply silly. It's like saying "Jumbo Shrimp" you can't be an amateur and a professional. YOU ARE ONE OR THE OTHER...
Mostly these are invented euphamisms for the word they're trying to replace. "Naturalistic looking small trees" is just a longer version of simply saying "bonsai" Since the meaning of "bonsai" in the west isn't directly translatable, the word itself conjures up a specific image for western users, which includes "naturalistic small trees." Putting "Traditional Asian" in front of bonsai implies some sort of familiarity with bonsai. The vast majority of people around the world will make none of these distinctions and multiplying the terminology only confuses the issue.
This kind of thing is making a distinction without any difference. The group of people who are able to hack through the multi-level meaning of "naturalistic looking small trees" BS is tiny and inconsequential. Forcing such stilted terms onto already established nouns borders on the Precious with a Capital "P" Precious in this case meaning "excessively refined," i.e. Affected...
A good read for those prone to thinking in "precious" new ways
Inspirational quotes of dubious provenance are just one of the ways in which social media sells a warped vision of ‘living fully’
www.theguardian.com