I think we are largely saying the same thing, as described in the introduction of the K&R C book:

  C is a relatively "low level" language. This
  characterization is not pejorative; it simply means that C
  deals with the same sort of objects that most computers do,
  namely characters, numbers, and addresses.[0]

0 - https://dn710204.ca.archive.org/0/items/the-c-programming-la...