Part of my curiosity was sparked by the article on HN the other day discussing the hamburger menu icon: it used to be confusing, but now is pretty widely recognized as long as some guidelines are followed. So while I used to agree with you re: usability, these days I'm not so sure anymore.

One idle thought I had: when computer interfaces were still new, using physical analogies like file cabinets was good practice for teaching new users. Maybe GUIs are now commonplace enough that people are able to speak the different "languages" without as much trouble.

I totally get where you’re coming from but for me it’s the predictability that’s key. Hamburger menus are familiar but they’re also not always there. On a traditional native UI you’d always have a menu bar, you’d always have a File and Edit menu. These days you may have a hamburger menu but it also may just be a wrapper for a menu bar. It’s just all a bit……vague I suppose.

Tbh it doesn’t matter really. As I implied in the previous comment, I can’t imagine many people bemoan the fact they can’t press Alt-f to get an illustrative menu drop-down, even if I do.