I actually agree with you about sigils matching the type of the variable. Many folks have expressed confusion and dismay over it throughout the life of Perl but to me it was always absolutely logical and sensible as grammar. That said, you and I are in the minority and people have actually attempted to fix or simplify English over the years, including Ben Franklin's ludicrous spelling reform attempt. Perl 5 isn't going away soon and if it can continue to attract talented core devs it might never. The Perl 6 ship has sailed and fighting against it or trying to call it back to port hurts Perl 5, as already mentioned in this thread.

If you care about Perl 5, put your efforts and energies there. The lack of apps has more to do with its usage spiral than any competition ever did. A single person, like Sri, MST, or Miyagawa, can stem the tide with a single good idea. Working will always beat complaining.

Update: cleaned up a couple words/commas that were bugging me.