Look, I'm not commenting on which system has better named commands. My main points are

1) A DAG is not a difficult concept to understand (despite the "scary" name). If you can understand package dependencies or a manufacturing process you already understand it.

2) Learning git without knowing about the DAG, i.e. knowing what a commit even is, is counterproductive. It's like learning to drive a manual car without knowing what the clutch does. Sure you could probably teach someone that way, but why would you? What's the benefit to learning mercurial without understanding what a rebase actually does?