I've got nothing in particular against drinking nut water and bean juice. Just don't call it milk.
that ship has sailed. I myself was drinking soy milk in the 80's - and I was still drinking regular milk and cheese, etc. I was just sampling.
checking up on wiki:
The first non-dairy milk—almond milk—was created in the Levant around the 13th century[16] and had spread to England by the 14th.[17] Soymilk was mentioned in various European letters from China beginning in the 17th century.[18] "Soy milk" entered the English language (as "soy-bean milk") in an 1897 USDA report.[19][20] Li Yuying established Caséo-Sojaïne, the first soy milk "dairy", in Colombes, France, in 1910; he received the first British and American patents for soy milk's manufacture in 1912 and 1913.[14] J.A. Chard began production of "Soy Lac" in New York City, United States, in 1917.[14]
milk has also been used to describe creamy looking or feeling substances for washing as well as a fairly broadly used verb:
Synonyms: Verb
abuse, capitalize (on), cash in (on), exploit, impose (on or upon), leverage, pimp, play (on or upon), use, work
No one was objecting to "soy milk" in the 80s. It was still something weird to the US palate and consciousness. Now that it is giving dairy a run for it's money - in a very literal sense - now they want to clap back on the term milk.