[laumars]

> Both of those solutions just feel clunky

They're not any clunkier than the solutions you were preferring. I think what's happened here is that you've found a solution that works for you and your happy with. Which is fine. But you're then trying to rationalize why your solution is "better" when really your solution is just personal preference.

However with that all said and done, I'm a vi use myself. I've never seen the point of learning emacs because I like vi, I'm quick in vi and I'm happy with vi. But if I'd learned emacs before I learned vi, then I'm sure I'd be saying the same thing but :%s/vi/emacs/g