Well .. I use it so often, I don't even think of it as there. It's became, well ... default. It's the most useful variable in Perl, but cause I use it so much, I don't see it as a 'kewl' variable. You can't 'do' much with it. Where $\ and $" actually let you play with how things are displayed. Just like CDs where kewl and most useful for ditital media until it's so popular, it's not longer 'kewl'.