in reply to Re^10: ** operator in perl
in thread ** operator in perl

The former part is discussed in the linked node as to why LW did not change the name. The latter part is defensible also. They have a "proof of concept." I'm more than willing to change my position and join the bandwagon when I can move my scripts over and turn off the p6 syntax (e.g. the new For loop), unless I need some feature.