Question about consistency in python language

[James]

> Also, you shouldn't use "1", I mean "l", as a variable name. It gets confusing
> because "l", I mean "1", looks a lot like "1", I mean "l".

I have seen the same warnning above significantly several times.
Is this problem originally came from the similarities between 'l' and
'1'
or from bad looking news-browser?
Forgive me if it is out of your interests.

-James GOLD