Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you're going to be pedantic, at least nail it. Debian (Linux) and OpenWRT are distributions. They're super-sets of applications, the GNU tools and the Linux kernel (or HURD). You only need the last two to form an "operating system". Android is a little different in that it doesn't sit on a GNU stack. I'm happier calling Android an operating system than I am Debian and OpenWRT.
If Debian is a distribution and Linux is just the kernel, what do you say if you run Debian and people ask what OS you use?
Depends who "people" were. Somebody who knows nothing is going to hear "Debian", somebody with a little more tech in their blood will hear "Debian... Yeah, that's right, Linux" and I'll save the "Debian GNU/Linux" for people trying to make a point about nomenclature.
My point wasn't that it's super important you call these things by the right name, it's that you were and you were getting it wrong still.