Laziness is a programmers main virtue.
Orthogonality for orthogonality's sake is not something I'm keen on.
Let us be charitable, and call it a misleading feature.
When in doubt, parenthesize. At the very least it will let some poor schmuck bounce on the % key in vi.
I'm a great believer in visual distinctions.
To ordinary folks, conversion is not always automatic. It's something that may or may not require explicit assistance. See Billy Graham.