I remember when my daughter was younger, but no less sarcastic, she asked why I called it "mountain biking" because there are no mountains where we live. She suggested "tree biking" cuz I kept running into them. Depending on the time of year, "swamp biking" might have worked. Either way, I only rode bar ends because everybody else did. In reality, all they did was hang on vegetation and threaten to puncture my liver every time I ran into the aforementioned trees.
Inner bar ends (there's an oxymoron for ya ... for Pete's sake, make up your mind) is a thing now, wifey is running them on both of her bikes and loves em. SQL makes a glorious system. Me, I just quit doing flat bars altogether. Jones opened up a whole new alternative reality, and I haven't looked back. I do keep a couple on hand, in the same box as my selle italia saddles, as props for photography ... but for riding? Oh please