I think the problem you're running into is that you just aren't used to these words. I imagine people having the exact same complaints about a computer "mouse" actually reminding them of the animal or "paste" reminding them of glue, but once you get used to them they just become the terms for things.
There was one memorable time when this happened, and as I was walking the user through their Dial-Up Network Settings configuration, I asked him to right-click on his dial up connection icon, and he had trouble understanding me. I said something to the effect of, "does your mouse have two buttons?", and he replied, "yes, and I'm mashing this critter right here".
So the parallels of the peripheral and the rodent are not lost on everyone.
And you can do even worse: translate "by default" with "in caso di successo" (trans.: "in case of success")
Or also very bad: translate "by default" with "alla scrittura su disco" (trans.: "when writing on disk")
At least the new term must not mean anything else than what it should.
La moda in statistica è il corretto termine classico.