$, is the output field separator, which in short or English form is very rarely used. Generally people explicitly determine what they want on output with someth

$, is the output field separator, which in short or English form is very rarely used. Generally people explicitly determine what they want on output with something like sprintf(), printf(), or join() rather than sending a list to print(). Just like a natural language, there's a tiny pidgin subset you can learn and use to great effect. You then learn obscure vocabulary on the rare occasion you come across it. If you have had to maintain code by people who intentionally obfuscate it, you should be at least as angry with those people as with the designers of their tools.