The real problem with lambdas in Python isn't that they're restricted to one expression, but that Python's implementation of closures is clumsy (due to a scoping ambiguity). The argument about whether lambdas should be named or not is a canard. In languages that make heavy use of lexically scoped functions defined on the fly (Scheme, ML, etc.), they're often given local names. The problem is that Python's locally defined functions <i>are less expressive</i>. Apparently making heavy use of closures is not "pythonic".