Append a new value to dict

[Pat]

I know it's not "fair" to compare language features, but it seems to me 
(a Python newbie) that appending a new key/value to a dict in Python is 
awfully cumbersome.

In Python, this is the best code I could come up with for adding a new 
key, value to a dict

mytable.setdefault( k, [] ).append( v )

In Perl, the code looks like this:

$h{ $key } = $value ;

Is there a better/easier way to code this in Python than the 
obtuse/arcane setdefault code?