Unnecessary Macros?

[GordianNaught]

In particular

(defmacro $ (&rest args)
  `(kv ,@args))

Could this not be written as follows?

(defun $ (&rest args)
  (apply #'kv args))

It has been a while since I used this library, but I remember being confused at why many of the macros were in fact macros.

Please let me know how I am wrong if I am.

[GordianNaught]

There seem to be other examples, but it is a recursive puzzle to tease them all out. If you think I am onto something, then I may spend some time later on to find more.