Yes, but the problem of this thinking is that when communicating we inherently look for shortcuts and shaping language to the context rather than sticking strictly to a grammar and a dictionary, and to be successful at defining a natural language (and that includes diagrams) you need to accept that the job is 90% describing reality and 10% trying to shape it. If that.
UML has been reasonably successful where it described reality, or tried to gently shape things by proposing things that were close to how most people already did things. Much less so where it tried to prescribe a reality not aligned with how people communicates, or where it has not kept up with the way that has evolved. It'd be more successful at being a lingua franca if the focus was more on documenting how people actually use diagrams, and just provide gentle nudges in one or the other direction where use is inconsistent.
I think this is also why so many people hate UML tooling - because it forces you to communicate in this strange dialect that is very different from how most of us communicate with diagrams, and that most people find awkward.
UML has been reasonably successful where it described reality, or tried to gently shape things by proposing things that were close to how most people already did things. Much less so where it tried to prescribe a reality not aligned with how people communicates, or where it has not kept up with the way that has evolved. It'd be more successful at being a lingua franca if the focus was more on documenting how people actually use diagrams, and just provide gentle nudges in one or the other direction where use is inconsistent.
I think this is also why so many people hate UML tooling - because it forces you to communicate in this strange dialect that is very different from how most of us communicate with diagrams, and that most people find awkward.