No, the problem the author mentions is explicitly with ReCaptcha. He addresses your edit in the article, which you would know if you actually read it and didn't just skim. The problem, as evidenced by the author's many examples, is that the control word is often distorted beyond reasonable recognition, and the new word is not valid data. So neither of the two words is solvable.

Edit in response to your edits

You've deleted your previous edit. Still, even with your current edit it is clear you are not actually reading the article. You say:

Again, it's important to note, you only have to get one of the two words correct to pass the challenge. So.. probably 99% of the above list would pass.

However, the author of the article explicitly states that he did this:

I decided to just guess the first word and hope “secretary” was the control. It wasn’t.

So the author correctly identified one of the two words (and makes the same identification as you did), but was still rejected because it was not the control word.

You obviously don't have an accurate understanding of ReCaptcha implementation, and you apparently are not reading the article with comprehension, despite claiming several times that you have.