As you indicate, Pandas is effectively another language, distinct from regular Python. E.g. it doesn't really use loops. So I think what irritates a lot of people about pandas is that they think "Cool. I can solve this complex problem in a couple of lines of Python code with pandas." then get irritated when they find that the couple of lines of pandas they need to use is "Incomprehensible pandas gibberish" instead of the familiar Python code they were expecting.

"If you really just want to use loops and stuff (which I would discourage) just use a list or a dict or something."

Like my post said, I favor vanilla python over pandas... so yes, I use lists, dicts and somethings. FWIW, though, my workflow pushes everything into postgres, and things that would normally go into pandas are just accessed through SQL through and with helper functions.