[hirihoto]

Perl is hardly alone in the million and a half implicit variables. Python is a far worse offender on this point and probably equally so in the context specific meaning of a statement (is this a generator or a list). My guess is this gripe is a familiarity thing. Iterating a hash in perl isn't that complicated, neither is iterating a hashref but you do need to be aware of which it is - which you should be anyway so you know whether you're modifying it locally or for the caller.

That said, I'm also in the camp of "I don't care much for sigils."