"%s".format("a string") #yields: a string
"%s".format(["a string"]) #yields: ["a string"]
"%s".format(("a string",)) #yields: ("a string",)
This will eliminate the confusing difference in the treatment of of tuples and lists when formatting a string. I think it's more clear, although I imagine some people will complain that "format" takes longer to type out than "%".