So the feature this ties into in other languages is called "String Interpolation" (Wikipedia).
I've started to feel that supporting string interpolation is fairly important.
This means that a string would have to carry a capture of its binding environment, somehow.
I managed to work up a small test using Sea of Words + Virtual Binding features, which showed some promise in being able to have a function take a TEXT! as a parameter and be able to look up variables in the attached binding of the text.
The capture of that environment might be something explicit done by the function receiving the TEXT! value. But it wouldn't be something the user of the interpolator had to do anything special in order to take advantage of.
As binding is rethought and considered, the important thing is not to get hung up in the historical mechanics. Instead, the question is to ask about the user experience...what can you and can't you do--what works and what does not. One of the positive aspects of having tons of existing code is that if any new feature breaks something that used to work, I find out about it quickly.
Anyway, string interpolation is on the radar as one of the "things we want".