Call A Sheep A Sheep

I love language and I appreciate a fine linguistic flourish, but everything has its limits.  I am greatly bothered by people who simply cannot say exactly what they mean.

This is why I cannot stand old poetry.  I feel like it is an entire genre marked by inexact language.  People will do anything but call a sheep a sheep.  Instead they'll call it an "animal covered in wool".  But that's not good enough, so they turn that into a "four-legged creature covered in wool".  That becomes "four-legged creature draped in wool", which becomes "four-legged grass grazer draped in wool", which becomes "four-legged grass grazer draped in linens, soft like the clouds."

Wouldn't it be easier to just call it a sheep?  It's less work for the author to come up with this convoluted description and it's way less work for the readers who wouldn't have to decode it.

But even in normal conversation this happens.  Some people will ask, "Do you have any plans for Halloween?"  Others will ask, "What is on your itinerary for All Hallows Eve?"  They're both correct, but the latter one is far more removed from contemporary English.

I want to stress that it is not necessarily a bad thing to ask that second question.  It can be amusing or charming or quaint.  How it is received depends on the listener.  However, no matter how it is taken, it takes extra time and energy to process the words because they are not standard.  And that is the real problem to me.

I consider it a pitfall in writing to not be able to be direct and clear.  Use no uncertain terms and people will know exactly what you mean (there will be no room to be uncertain).  And again, everything has its limits.  If you never have any kind of flourishes, you will come across as mechanical, which can be boring to read.  Striking that balance is key.