{} are approximately as far but they’re in the same direction that your fingers naturally point. () are farther but as words in the languages of vi and vim they

{} are approximately as far but they’re in the same direction that your fingers naturally point. () are farther but as words in the languages of vi and vim they're a powerful operator that have no mouse equivalent (unlike w[ords] and {} paragraphs/lines which have double-click and triple-click). Editing the middle of a sentence, then deciding to move it to a footnote is IMO easier with `<Esc>di(}p` or `<Esc>di(Gp`¹ than with `bend thumb/wrist backwards / arm up and to the right, drag thumb to end of sentence, double-click drag to select one word at a time to the other end, release and drag sentence down precise number of lines to next paragraph or all the way to the end of the document (or how I would move the selection, Backspace, PageDown to the end, Shift+Insert)" ¹Let me test that. I like digraphs a heck of a lot more than scrolling through a symbol list btw. This was also a nice use for marks.