my %hash = map {  "\L$_" => 1  } @array # perl guesses EXPR. wrong
my %hash = map { +"\L$_" => 1  } @array # perl guesses BLOCK. right
my %hash = map {; "\L$_" => 1  } @array # this also works
my %hash = map { ("\L$_" => 1) } @array # as does this
my %hash = map {  lc($_) => 1  } @array # and this.