So complicated and ugly!

That's true, of course... but some people just want to interpolate :) — I have to admit I've also felt that urge at times...

This is probably the outcome of the generalizing behavior of our brains: we've learnt we can interpolate scalars and arrays, so why not also hashes, functions, anything?  (This behavior, in and of itself, is certainly a Good Thing, BTW, otherwise we probably wouldn't be where we are today, messing with Perl... supported by those little silicon chips, etc.)

Also, some people just find

    "abc ${\config('username')} xyz";
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easier to read/type than

    "abc ".config('username')." xyz";
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even though they are exactly the same number of chars.

Anyhow, the nice thing is that with Perl's TIMTOWTDI-ness, everyone can get happy :)