Designers of future languages, please take this example as a proof of the rule: don't design anything for newbies. They will find a way to make an error anyway, but dumbs-based design will be the problem for everyone else.
That - and the error is going to be a lot more subtle and harder to find.
In all fairness though, it's a balancing act - There are benefits to dynamic typing, but PHP clearly overdid it. (See also the disaster that was/is magic quotes)
