Funny you bring this up. Here it means 18k, but when I was talking to a coworker recently about "maxing" our 401k, she mentioned she maxes hers out. I told her "Wow, that's great, I'm up to 20% but I'm hoping to go higher soon."
Her eyes bugged out and she said "Uh, I put in 5% (which is what our company matches at), that's what I thought you meant by maxing it out."
Damn mustachian ideas skewing our perspectives.