Another compelling argument is that {} , while very easy to type on an English keyboard, is highly awkward on keyboards of almost any other language in the world. E.g. I'm Danish and on my Mac { involves flexing the right thumb down to hit right-alt while typing 7 with my middle finger and holding down shift with my left pinky. `end`, though, being actual letters, is completely easy and fast to type (on languages that uses the latin alphabet).