I think part of the boggling has to do with the fact that 'strict' is a legal bareword if strictures are off. I had to think through that one when I looked at this one. (Nice conundrum, btw. ++!) You see "use strict" in some fashion and that bit is flipped in your head, regardless of the fact that the mess you're considering is the "use strict" declaration itself. So, I was applying strictures (specifically strict 'refs') without truly verifying that strictures were in force.