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I will get flak for this but just too funny to not say it.

This looks to me the equivalent of: "software engineer is a real engineering discipline" argument. Some practitioners of one field consider themselves to be equivalent to another related field because of similarities. Opponents cite some "key differences" and requirements to deny the claim. Fights ensue.

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It's the same type of argument because both of them are based on the flawed idea that there's some clear dividing line that an entity falls on exactly one side of. The trouble is that there's not, for either "engineering" or "programming languages". They're both fuzzy concepts, and where you draw the line is pretty arbitrary.

Another similarity is that in both cases there is an implied value judgement—both sides of both arguments see one side of the dividing line as being "better" somehow than the other side, and want to either be included or to defend the integrity of the "better" side.

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