Linq is used pretty loosely to include also the equivalent form so

    dogs
       .Select(d => d.Id)
       .Where(d => d.Age > 3)
       .Skip(4)
       .Take(2)

would be considered just as much "linq" by most c# devs even though this isn't the query language integrated - simply because it's the same exact thing as the regular linq code.

I too find the "real" linq form mostly distracting.

The weird SQL-ish query syntax is an abomination. But using the LINQ extension methods, making use of lambdas as you say, is gold.

Most of it boils down to plain old functional map/fold/filter/zip constructs under different names.