Lists and arrays are not the same thing in Perl. Parentheses do not create lists in Perl. Parentheses group terms.

You'd have the same sort of problem conflating tuples and lists in Python, especially if you don't know about the special comma syntax and zero-or-one element tuples.

I didn't skip the basics of the language. Still - basics keep biting me every single time. I don't think it's my problem after all... I mean - it may have its strange rules - but if it's less easy to handle than other languages, it won't draw new people in.

perlfaq4 explains the difference between arrays and lists in Perl in plain language. One is a variable. The other is a value.

The rest is operator precedence, grouping, and context. If you don't understand those, you don't understand Perl. Granted, most tutorials do a terrible job of explaining those, but these are fundamental concepts.

* ... but if it's less easy to handle than other languages, it won't draw new people in.*

That sounds like a tempting explanation for language popularity, but I doubt it's true -- it's too close to the "Obviously the technically best solution deserves to win!" fallacy. I suspect that practicality, availability, and the ease of which you can just get something done trumps quality. Certainly PHP's ease of deployment has contributed to its popularity more than consistency and correctness of design.