I believe that this issue my have been the deciding factor in the U.S. Presidential election. In the second debate Obama refered to his usage of the term "Acts of Terror" but Romney had argued that this term was not the same as "Terroist Acts". It was debated for weeks in the media.

Obama is back in office (I'm back in bed). I'll take it.

Would using "the" clear this all up?

My father, who is a jazz musician, once said, "I was never interest in playing the simple stuff.". Given the context it was obvious he was talking about blues music, so this would clearly be a term, correct?

If somebody said, "Why don't you boys go ahead and play some of the simple music now.", then wouldn't it also clearly be a term in this instance? if so, then a misnomer?

Sure, but if my name was "Bob" and when I tried to swim I just sank like a rock, then it would be a misnomer, right?!

Aurie, your example of "African-inspired music" could be seen as way more generic than mine (could apply to Rock, Blues, R & B, Traditional, Afro-Cuban, Jazz, hip hop, etc). What gives and who decides what is specific enough? My friend "Slim" is deffinately not the only person who is slim? Is it a matter of capitalization (I can do that)?

Thanks, again for your help.

As an example:

When I was younger, I would go into eat at my favorite restaurant and the waitress would greet me by saying, “Hello, Handsome!” In this instance she was using “Handsome” as a name, although, I would say that it would have been less of a misnomer then.

Thank you both for your thoughts on this.

My question isn’t about her use on the term “simple music”, it is about mine (we had already been drinking wine, so I’m not even sure she did use it). The question I have now is: when does a description become a term or name?