In this case, it's a Perl concept related to DWIM (Do What I Mean), where the features will make practical assumptions about what you need to accomplish in their implementation, so you don't have to worry about the details. It can be abused (and is) but is also very useful for quick oneliners in particular.

Not to be confused with the Perl feature called magic, where functionality can be attached to a variable to affect what happens whenever it is accessed. Though this is often used to implement the former concept.