While you have a valid point, the variables are not "reserved", they are simply used. Avoiding them is a good way to avoid really hard to track down errors, but if sort() is not used then they are fine.
--- demerphq
my friends call me, usually because I'm late....
they are not just simply used since strict.pm for example does not "check" them.
another point is that any programmer shots himself/herself in the foot when using such imaginable variable names - except sort of course. variable names with a length less than, say, 4 should generally be disallowed. but that is only my opinion. ;)