> It's very likely that those people know both python and awk, and this their attitude of superiority is not unwarranted.

Ok....

> It's much faster to type out the awk line then to write the same in python.

Is there some sort of speed-typing award that's being handed out that I'm missing? If there isn't, why would they feel superior?

We're all† smug pricks, but that's no cause for celebration. And 99% of the time we're not even justified in our smugness.

† All = a huge chunk of IT people, developers especially.