As with all communications, think about your audience and your goal. If you're actually concerned with the leverage, or you're comparing bikes, or you're trying to describe the gear ratios to someone else, then gear inches makes sense. But if you're just trying to remember which gears you used the last time you went up that hill, then something like 2/2 or 1/3 (middle front, second largest rear, or smallest front, third largest rear) strikes me as being easier.