DeSitter notes that oddly named files can interfere with other directory-access commands (eg: find). I made a similar observation regarding 'ls' and 'rm' commands being borked by dash files.

This can usually be circumvented by trailing a command with a '--' (that'a double-dash), particularly when giving a wildcard or otherwise expanded filelist as arguments. In many shell tools, a double-dash without arguments indicates end of arguments. Exceptions prove the rule, naturally. In startx, a double-dash seperates client and server options.