Why are Answers refered to as Replies in some places on the question page?

Indeed, Ive ignored it just fine too. Its just that "Reply" suggests that more than just answers are allowed there. This is a good explanation why we keep getting comments as answers (aside from the button not appearing for some users).

I do understand what you're saying, but I feel like the answer vs. partial answer point comes down to a subtlety that most people don't think about. And besides, in some ways it seems like a good thing if the word "answer" connotes a certain level of definiteness or completeness. I certainly don't post an answer if I'm just throwing out a quick suggestion; if I'm answering a question I'm going to put some time and thought into it. I feel like that's a good thing to encourage.

Another thing to think about is the context in which people most often see the word "reply" associated with an action: email (or other messaging). In this context, reply is used for exactly what many users mistakenly use the UA answer section for: follow-up questions, providing more information, thanking people, etc. I think "reply" in general just has too wide of a meaning, and in the digital context, especially for non-native English speakers, has too specific of a meaning that differs from what it means on UA.

Finally, if you look at any Stack Overflow site, you can see they only use the words "answer" and "comment". Nevertheless, the types of answers get are pretty similar as far as being suggestions or partial answers. I don't think it takes long to realize that those types of answers are still perfectly acceptable as "answers" and not just "replies".