Yeah, but I was doing the same thing 10 years ago with include mixed with extends and blocks. I can just include a file inside a template or render it directly.
you're kinda right, {% partial ... %} vs {% include ... %} is not a big difference, but my mind was vaguely thinking that "includes" have often been seen as large templates, whereas partial have been after the component era with the idea of making small blocks. (my 2 cents)