What is a "permanent address"?

[This was previously a different question that I removed because it was too dumb. This question is not much better!]

A lot of anger seems to come out of me whenever I fill out forms. I take things way too literally, and so I always hate the way questions on forms are worded, and I often feel that none of the options applies to me.

For instance:
FORM: “Are you employed? [Yes] [No]”
ME: “WELL, technically, I’m not ‘employed’ because I am a full-time grad student, but I receive a stipend equivalent to the yearly salary of typical entry-level positions, and I don’t really think of myself as ‘unemployed’ so…”

There are many questions that evoke this kind of response from me (I can’t even imagine how non-100% men/women must feel on the gender question!), but there is one form question that always gets me. “What is your permanent address?”

Until I have retired to a multi-million dollar beach home in Santa Barbara at age 75, I can’t imagine I will ever have a “permanent address.” I like moving to new places, and I plan to move frequently, wherever my career takes me. I don’t understand the concept of having a “permanent address” until a person is retired and almost dead. Why is this term used? Why are people expected to stay at one address permanently?