Say that the defer would execute inside for loops, what would make you more astonished: loops and functions are the exceptions, or defers execute at the end of any block? I would prefer the latter of these two. But then the consequence is that a defer in an if-block executes instantly, so you cannot conditionally defer anymore. So it seems that the rules for when deferees execute need to be arbitrary, and "only functions" seems fewer exceptions than "only functions and loops", isn't it? And what about loops implemented through gotos? Oh boy.