And it isn't abuse until it is used in a specific abusive way. Having the options available to you isn't abusing it.
Doesn't it "bloat" the language though?
That is subjective. You can feel it is bloated, but I would call it handy and expressive.
Re:New Ruby 1.9 Features, Tips & Tricks
by philwelch on Monday February 21, 2011 @07:36PM
(#2248033)
Conventions vary from DSL to DSL. The flexibility doesn't have to be used by the application programmer to be useful. Think of how gemfiles or Rspec would look without optional parentheses in method calls. Even though parens are usually the way to go, sometimes you want different conventions in your DSL.
Be that as it may, in Ruby you should also follow conventions, write readable code, use the most obvious choice when possible and avoid being unnecessarily clever. Most of the core principles that Python promotes should also be heeded when writing Ruby code. Ruby gives you the flexibility to choose different options, but that doesn't mean that the flexibility should be abused.