What's the point of customizing element tags?

Obviously a question from an XML newbie...

	But what is the point of custom naming xml elements when they are not 
accessed in an OOP manner?
	Here is what I mean:

	<newbie>
	    <question>
                       <whatsUp>Whats the point</whatsUp>
	    </question>
	</newbie>
	
	My understanding is that you don't access the contents using syntax like: 
newbie.question.whatsUp.value, but rather an obscure
childNodes[0].childNodes[0].childNodes[0].nodeValue (not even sure if that 
is right). But in any case, if you don't use the custom names
then why not do:

	<blah>
               <blah>
                   <blah>...

	Thanks for enlightening me :-)...