OK, thanks. I think I get it now.

I've come to really love the way Perl identifies what you should expect to get out of the variable. It speaks to me on a "this is what I like about Perl" way. Now the emphasis seems to be on the container, not the contents which is a complete reversal. Some how that just seems like a really wrong thing to do with the language (is it even Perl anymore?). Maybe that's just a result of familiarity and I'd see it from the other side if Perl had always done it this way (shrug).