To the curious, note that what the patterns are is not explained in 'A Pattern Language' but instead in the companion book 'Timeless way of Building'. It's quite a philosophical exposition. It talks about evoking 'The quality without a name', that every human has the capacity to feel, but not necessary to name or dissect.
Here's a quote for the curious from 'Timeless way of Building' that I think captures somewhat what the post wishes more software designers thought about in relation to patterns:
(page 236-237, speaking about the specialisation of professions in which people's pattern languages gets lost through disconnection)
"... Of course, even now a town still gets its shape from pattern languages of a sort. The architects and planners and bankers have pattern languages which tell them to build gigantic steel and concrete buildings. The users have a few shattered patterns left in their vocabulary: a sheet of plastic to make a kitchen counter; huge plate glass windows for the living room; wall-to-wall carpet in the bathroom -- and they enthusiastically piece these patches together, whenever they have a free weekend.
But these remnants of our former languages are dead and empty. They are based mainly on the by-products of industry. People use plate glass windows, formica counters, wall-to-wall carpet, because industry makes them available, not because these patterns contain anything essential about life, or how to live it.
The time when a pattern language was a song, in which people could sing the whole of life, is gone. The pattern languages in society are dead. They are ashes and fragments in the people's hands"