@Suiseiseki

Well no, it’s like someone saying they run an engine, as without the OS you can’t use the transmission. GNU tooling is more akin to a transmission.

I’m a car guy, when we talk about old vehicles we will often say things like “‘75 Chevy k5 w/ sbc 250 & 3-spd+OD TH350” which is a lot like when you say “GNU/Linux” without versioning ofc.
If I said just that I have a sbc 250 on a stand, or in the car but no trans, that’s more inline with “Linux”
You can use run Linux on a machine with no GNU, it won’t be very useful but you can.

Linux is an OS, it is what GNU is bundled with. That does not mean that GNU isn’t important.
I leave the GNU silent as it is assumed that they are together.
In the case of cars, if there’s only one type of transmission for a make and model, we just say the vehicle and the engine size assuming that “well of course it’s THE automatic” when asked.

Even in the GNU OS PAGE IT CLARIFIES TO GNU/Linux. Meaning even they acknowledge that it needs an OS