Nick -
My response to your two examples is gonna sound like nit picking. Sorry. And it's a long post.
Note that I'm ignoring short all-in raises for these examples.
For the record, I am not against changing the rule, except that it seems to be a well known established rule. As such, it probably shouldn't be changed. Also note that the rule is about ambiguous statements. Using the word "To" or "More" makes things clearer - but not entirely clear as you'll see in my own examples.
BTW, I checked Robert's Rules and couldn't find anything that applies.
Mind you, I deal in a pub league where some players are very sharp and some have no clue. But I gotta treat them the same so that they are prepared for when they go to a poker room. I.E. The clueless can at least get a clue, while the sharp player learns how to play against the clueless since poker rooms also have clueless players. And some clueless dealers, but that's another story. Some of the players call me the Rules Guru. Some call me the Rules Nazi. Whatever.
In your first example: A player bets 4,000 and the next player says "Raise 4,000".
A minimum raise is for 4,000 more, so the fact that the raise was ambiguous is irrelevant.
A better example would be if he said "Raise 6,000". TDA rules say that it's a raise TO 6,000, which is less than a minimum raise, so he'd be forced to put in 8,000, even though he probably intended to raise it to 10,000.
It's very hard to not agree that he did intend to raise to 10,000.
But would you apply that same logic if he had said "Raise 16,000" while putting in a four 5K chips? Did he mean additional or total? Would you make it 20,000 total or 16,000 total?
The case could be made that if the original player asks if it's more or total, that the raiser gets a read and changes his intention. That invites angle-shooting.
In your second example: Albert bets 100, Bonnie raises 200. "Raises" is a word that is used when describing the action after it has occurred. I.E. It's the kind of word someone might use when describing the situation to a floor person, but not a word a player will use when acting. And, as you suggest, it implies the 'more' amount.
If I were the dealer talking to the floor, I would say, "Albert bet 100, Bonnie said 'Raise 200', what's the total bet?" As a floor person, I would say the total is 200.
Again, allowing a player to make an argument that influences the decision invites angle-shooting.
Last is my own two part example: Blinds are 200/400. Albert is SB for 200. Bob is BB for 400. Charlie raises to 800. Dave reraises to 2000. It's back to Albert who removes his 200 and puts in two 5K chips while saying "Raise, 6000".
Is the total bet: 6000, 6200, 6400, 6800 or 8000?
Same situation, but he leaves his 200 out there and says "Raise, 6000 more". Or he says something I've seen small blinds do far too often, say "Raise, 6000 on top".
On top of what? The small blind they left out there? Is the total bet: 6200, 6400, 6800 or 8000?
I've seen players make arguments for all the different totals that I suggest.
Note: The answers for my examples are 6000 and 8000.