I also made this mistake once upon a time. I like this since it's such a good example of how bad API design can mislead the developer and lead to subtle mistak

I also made this mistake once upon a time. I like this since it's such a good example of how bad API design can mislead the developer and lead to subtle mistakes with substantial consequences. It is right for the JVM to have special handling for strings due to their ubiquity and unique characteristics, but it should be reflected in the API design to avoid encouraging horrible mistakes like that.