I am passing along a letter I got today from Princeton, NJ.
Mr Mac Fly,
I read with utmost curiosity your suggestion to rename System Preferences to System Settings. Years ago I approached Steve to discuss renaming it System Choices. Steve laughed and said he would if he could. You see there are approximately 1 bazillion preference files hidden in every users Library folder. It would take 10 years to reprogram something other than preferences.
The good news is quantum physics. There are three copies of each of us out there using either Preferences, Settings, or Choices!
Cheers!
AE