My current best theory is that Perl is powerful, flexible, malleable, and practical enough that a dabbler can accomplish great things without having to think ab

My current best theory is that Perl is powerful, flexible, malleable, and practical enough that a dabbler can accomplish great things without having to think about clarity or design or encapsulation or maintainability. The language lets you get things done even if you make a mess. (I believe Ward Cunningham has said that Smalltalk's tools are so good that you don't notice that you've made a mess until it's a huge mess.)