I think I'd probably want to precompile too if this was to be used repeatedly. 
my $tr = eval "sub { tr/\Q$oldlist\E/\Q$newlist\E/ }" or die $@;

&$tr for $things, $that, $i, $want, $to, $transliterate;

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In reply to Re^3: How to use a variable in tr/// by nobull
in thread How to use a variable in tr/// by perl-novice

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