Ok, doing exam quarterstaff did indeed show it as a staff, with weight, material and ####. But still, shouldn't shod do the same thing, which it didn't.

You only get the item information if you actually use one of the names of the item. "shod" in this case was just another description for the quarterstaff, not one of its actual names. It's up to the area writer what they make be "names" of the object and what's just another way of describing it.