1.

What is Perl and what can I do with it?

A linguistic programming language useful for many tasks such as:

automating system administrative tasks

generating web pages

interfacing with databases

extracting useful bits of information

filesystem/file manipulation

2.

Why Perl?

A philosophical question more or less...but in a nutshell:

Perl allows for rapid development

Perl is easy, with *tons* of online support

Perl is ubiquitous - comes ready to go with your *nix OS

Rich set of online documentation (perldoc)

Perversely flexible and surprisingly elegant

CPAN offers tons of pre-built modules

mod_perl with Apache's API

3.

Legendary Perl features

To the masses, Perl may be known primarily for one or more of the following:

Regular Expressions

CGI scripts/mod_perl

Resembling line noise

Following of fanatical advocates

Being the duct-tape of the Internet

Saving time and effort with certain tasks