> if you don't use it all the time

It's core to the language; very common usage. Context overloading is very core to the language. I don't know what kind of programming you could do that wouldn't involved references used in this way.

If you want to talk about the rough edges, I can do that. I actually know and use Perl. But when people who clearly have not invested much time with the language try to criticize it's always idiotic. I mean, let's talk about the 'each' operator or the archaic format stuff. The basic syntax of the language is fine; you just don't know it.