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I'd say that only really strengthens OP's overall point of being about using "the wrong language for the wrong thing".

Yes: JSON was meant to be a machine-to-machine format, and it's the humans that are insisting on comments.

JSON was also meant to be read and edited by people, as was all web technology, and people have a use for comments.

Even Douglas Crockford suggested that people could still use comments, as long as they strip them out before parsing.