People not understanding what "competitive" means?

I've had a couple interesting conversations with people I know/play commander with about different aspects of Magic being a competitive card game, and I admit their answers were... weird.

The simpler one happened while I was showing one of my friends the Pauper format as a good way to get into competitive Magic. He made a face when I said that, and admitted that he doesn't consider Pauper to be competitive. When I asked him why, he shrugged and said that he just doesn't with no further explanation.

The second one happened during a game of casual, bracket 3 Commander. The table was having a small conversation about getting better at the game where I said that the best way to improve was to play competitive, 1v1 formats. Someone else disagreed and stated that Commander was the most competitive format because, "it uses the most cards". I just sat there for a moment kind of stunlocked while someone else tried to win the game causing an immediate shift in topics.

I normally consider myself pretty good at seeing where people are coming from, but I just can't understand these stances. I was even helping my friend get ready to test Pauper by going to a local event with a buy-in and prize support. As I continue to be stuck on what other people consider to be "competitive", have you guys ever experienced things like this? What weird sentiments have you come across?