I bought a Quantaray 24-70 in the recent Ritz sale. I asked the manager if that branch was closing down, just in conversation. He was quite affronted by my question and said indignantly "No, it's just restructuring you know, companies do it all the time". While he was ringing the lens up he then said "You realise on your camera that it is a 36-105 don't you?". I said, "Are you sure this branch isn't closing?".

[Marc Sabatella]

But it only applies when the person looking at the combination knows the field of view on a film or "full frame"

True enough, which is why I'm usually first in line to point this out when peopl try to use it inappropriately. But for the specific purpose for which it was intended, it does work admirably. And actually, you don't have to be that intimately familiar with "FF" to find this useful - it also helps when reading a book or article that was written for that format, so you'll know how to interpret comments made about focal length (eg, if someone says that you get such and such a type of portrait shooting from a distance of X with a focal length of Y).

Anyhow, I'm obviously not saying you don't already know, or that anyone else who understands the concept of crop factors well enough to dislike the use of that term doesn't know. Still, I find it useful to be explicit about what crop factors are and aren't, rather than make blanket assertions that 50mm magically becomes 75mm (leading to all sorts of confusion, as about what to enter in the SR menu) or blanket assertions that the concept of a crop factor has no value at all.