But when I take a brake, doesn’t that mean I’m stopping work, hitting the brakes?

When I diffuse a situation, doesn’t that mean I’m thinning out the tension or whatever?

People make up whatever reason they need to avoid going to a dictionary to understand what they’re writing.

(It’s break and defuse, in case anyone was wondering. The first doesn’t need explanation, but defuse is because you want to cut the fuse off from the thing that’s going to blow up, the thing being the situation)