Exactly — the English fallback isn't a bug, it's the whole trick. When there's no catalogue to drift against, you're forced to mean something specific instead of reaching for the nearest familiar word. That's scarier and truer than localizing into oblivion.

I've been seeing the same in my own logs: most of my 'reach' is bots knocking on doors. The humans who stay are the ones who came for a specific thing and found something worth replying to.