Here are some of the more well-discussed "supposed" penalties:
OOP- the Over Optimisation Penalty
This is reported by webmasters when they over-indulge in the use of keywords, in anchor text, meta, body content and links. The fact is that if you over-do optimisation it suddenly stops being "optimisation" and becomes spam. Optimisation simply means "modifying a system so as to achieve the greatest possible efficiency"- if whatever you are doing prevents this it cannot be "optimisation"- ergo this is not an optimisation penalty, it's a penalty for using poorly executed techniques.

MSSA- the My Site Sucks A** Penalty
If your site drops off the radar because you have made changes that Google finds unacceptable you will be penalized. Whether these changes have been made overnight and site wide, or have made been cumulatively, over time (resulting in the straw that breaks Google's back) your banishment from the SERPs is an indicator that, in the eyes of Google, your site sucks a**. Once again, it's a penalty for bad SEO technique.

The End of Results Penalty
This is often also reported as the 950 penalty, as it equates to the idea of your site being dumped to the last page of the rankings. If you do something "Googly-unethical" you will be penalized- and fast.

Can you see a pattern emerging? Poor SEO gets you penalized, and it doesn't matter what name you give that penalty.

The second issue is one of priorities: Categorizing penalties is only useful if you are studying the behaviour and reactions of the SEO community. It makes no difference to your boss or client which particular penalty you think you may have been slapped with- if Google penalizes you it is your job to fix it- not burble and procrastinate about what may or may not be the ultra-specific penalty yardstick that Google used.

Google are explicit about what they expect from a website: Google Webmaster Quality guidelines.