[erlang-questions] bug or feature?

[Dmitriy Kargapolov]

Is it a bug or some magic feature in erlang shell when using atom query 
with no quotes?

Eshell V5.5.4  (abort with ^G)
1> {query, "lalala"}.
** 1: syntax error before: ',' **
1> {'query', "lalala"}.
{'query',"lalala"}
2>