American Journalists Not The Only Ones Who Are Sub-Terminology Impaired

Check out this report from the Australian Broadcast Co.:

Submarine missile found near beach
Wednesday, 22 February 2006. 13:00 (AEDT)
Armed forces personnel have recovered a flare device found unexploded off a beach near Ulludulla.
Police say the missile from a submarine was found off Racecourse Beach south of Ulladulla yesterday afternoon.
Police managed to bring it to shore and guard it until armed forces personnel arrived late last night to inspect it.
Police say the flare was torpedoed from a submarine during a recent naval exercise off the south coast, but failed to detonate.

I can see how they're probably just trying to avoid using the same word too frequently, but c'mon... a "missile" is not the same thing as a flare, "detonate" isn't the same as "ignite", and "torpedoed" definitely isn't a synonym for "launched". What interests me is that all of the mis-used words seem to make the story more ominous than it really is.