i actually don't get why references are such a thing in geek/programming culture

i mean like "grok" and such where obscure references that nobody else gets become a part of the casual everyday lingo when there's a perfectly good word for it already

(there are other better examples i'm sure but as someone who is not a part of this culture i don't know them lol)

like with most other folks words are only added to the lexicon to meet a particular need??