I'll keep telling myself that Perl is for *real* web programmers, and everyone else is just jealous.

It can't hurt to know PHP and ASP as well, if for no other reason: you can be more informed when proseletyzing the misguided "fake" programmers out there, by informing them of the benefits of perl ('translated' into whatever language they 'grok').

Not to get in the way of your love-fest, but the best way to fight off insecurity and fears of being a cocktail party punchline is to keep learning. Learn *all* the tools of the trade and don't take it personally if a customer stubbornly insists that you use a programming language that is (in your view) obviously inferior. As long as their checks don't bounce, what is the problem?

It would be nice if everyone understood why Perl (and perlmonks) is so great, but not everyone does, and most of the religious anti-perl zealotry is little more than a mask to hide the fear that comes from ignorance. These days there is just way too much freely available information (especially for a seasoned perl programmer with over four years of experience) not to be able to gain competence in the other schools of thought, and to be able to switch between them. That is, unless you are doing *highly specialized* work, in which case it doesn't matter what languages are "most popular" because you already have your "niche".