Jeff King [off-list ref] writes:
... My main motive in switching to the
"alias.$cmd.key" syntax is that it fixes the ancient mistake of putting
arbitrary content into the key (just like pager.*, as we've discussed
elsewhere).
Yup, we are on the same page. It's not too grave a mistake (we said
"these are command names and do not have to be able to contain
random letters" and deliberately did without the usual three-level
hierarchy; I think the reasoning is even more valid for pager.*),
but it does imply case insensitivity not to use three-level names,
and I think it is a good move.