Yep, this was a common Perl construct as well, since you could follow "or die" with a custom error string. I used to amuse myself (way back in the Stone Age, when I was in college and didn't know better) by using amusing and unique invectives for error messages like 'or die "you son of a motherless goat"'. Not only did they make me giggle a little, they made searching code for the line that failed a little easier...