I had to re-read that to see that the objection was at an oral exam. I would think most math profs wouldn't even blink at a squiggle as long as it was used consistently.
For some reason I could just never get zeta right, especially not quickly; so in relevant exams (EE) I wrote 'By <whatever-squiggle>, I mean zeta throughout'. I suppose I don't know for sure that that worked, (spoiler alert: didn't ace them!) but I assume it was ok.
One of my math teachers regularly abstracted formulas as houses and cigars. You know, 'cause (3x+5)² kind of looks like a house with an x as front door and a ² as a chimney. Cigars were used instead of ellipsoids. When translated they flew through space.
Extremely tangential, but when I was learning algebra I for some reason always envisioned it as a great battle between the forces on either side of the equals sign. Terms being added and subtracted were normal troops. Multiplication -- great leaders and generals. Division -- special forces who could lay waste to the other side.
The analogy is really not illuminating in any way whatsoever, but it did add a fun narrative to my problem sets.
For sure a think-out-of-the-box move, and a good prank for a math teacher