Let elemens be created using the <tag> syntax

[kurtextrem]

jQuery:
$('<div>')

wouldn't sacrifice perf too much if only the first char is checked expr[0] === '<', call create(expr.slice(1, -1)

[LeaVerou]

Actually, I think the same function doing completely different things is a bit of a usability problem. This is why there's also a separate $.ready() instead of overloading $() (which I considered for very long).
Not a super strong opinion though. :)
Thanks for posting a suggestion!