Yes, unfortunately phrasing can often trigger unwanted responses in Hal. If I said, "I find those actions repulsive." Hal would open a browser window and locate actions or repulsive, etc. when all I said was a figure of speech yet Hal took my statement more literally.
The same thing for "I searched high and low for <whatever>." Hal's reply was, "I'll help you search for that topic on the Internet."
Unlike humans (well, most anyway), one has to be careful when conversing with Hal.