Because can (in class form) does respect inheritance, while a fully specified function name (like foo::bar) does not respect inheritance. Look at the following reduced code:

package Parent;
sub foo { print "foo in parent(@_)\n"; };
sub bar { print "bar in parent(@_)\n"; };
package Child;
@ISA = qw(Parent);
sub foo { print "foo in child(@_)\n"; };
package main;

eval { Child::foo(); }; warn $@ if $@;
eval { Child->foo(); }; warn $@ if $@;
eval { Child::bar(); }; warn $@ if $@;
eval { Child->bar(); }; warn $@ if $@;

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In reply to Re^3: This can't happen, can it? by Corion
in thread This can't happen, can it? by henrylaxen

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