It means bad design. It address claims like "PHP improved in last decade".

I've checked and feel misguided. "Fractal of bad design" is still applicable

    strpos ( string $haystack , mixed $needle [, int $offset = 0 ] ) : int
    str_replace ( mixed $search , mixed $replace , mixed $subject [, int &$count ] ) : mixed

It is not possible to use language without documentation, should name include underscore? Where to put string? I've switched to ruby, it is predictable.

Mixed baggage of C, Perl, Java influences, no design. PHP 4 had design, PHP 5 made it total mess.

Borne shell good in gluing UNIX tools, AWK good in simple columnar data, PHP good in one page scripts.

You've described PHP as "useful" language.