Perl looks like noise but, really, it makes a lot of sense if you understand the language. It's kind of a strange thing.
PHP has potential, but I think at this point it basically needs a VB.NET-esque revamp to make it tolerable for me. While VB6 might not be a very good language, at least it's generally pretty consistent with a lot of things. PHP is all over the map with its naming conventions. And, like I said, the fact that making a simple change to your configuration file can break your code is a real bummer. It must be hell for the programmers behind massive projects like phpBB, SMF, Joomla, PHPNuke, Invision, etc, simply because they literally have to write code for every type of scenario imaginable.