Python has always been unashamedly imperative, with some functional features entering by slipping through the cracks. The pattern matching thing seemed ok to me when I tried it, but I haven't used it except briefly, since I'm still mostly on Python 3.9. Interestingly, Python has been losing users to Rust. I don't entirely understand that, other than everyone saying how Rust's tooling is so much better.

> we never get real useful quality of life improvements for basic functional programming like TCO or multi line lambdas

A lambda can be as big of an expression as you want, including spanning multiple lines; it can't (because it is an expression) include statements, which is only different than lambdas in most functional languages in that Python actually has statements.

The choice of “unique” verbs is weird too. Case match. Try except?

The utility value of multi-line lambdas is real, but the readability of these is terrible. And Python prizes readability. So you know where this initiative will end up.