gistfile1.txt

➜  export IFS='                              
'
:( ( 12/02/13@11:36AM )( maplebed@maplebook ):~/tmp 
➜  args=($(ls -1))                                                                                                                                                              1
:) ( 12/02/13@11:36AM )( maplebed@maplebook ):~/tmp 
➜  !echo
:) ( 12/02/13@11:36AM )( maplebed@maplebook ):~/tmp 
➜  echo $args
file one file two four and five three
:) ( 12/02/13@11:36AM )( maplebed@maplebook ):~/tmp 
➜  echo $args[1]
file one
:) ( 12/02/13@11:36AM )( maplebed@maplebook ):~/tmp 
➜  for i in $args ; do echo $i ; done
file one
file two
four and five
three
:) ( 12/02/13@11:36AM )( maplebed@maplebook ):~/tmp 
➜  cat $args
➜  for i in $args ; do echo "I am $i " > $i ; done
:) ( 12/02/13@11:37AM )( maplebed@maplebook ):~/tmp 
➜  cat $args
I am file one 
I am file two 
I am four and five 
I am three 

This matches my use case a little more closely:

commands=()
for i in "$@"; do
    b="this contains $i inside"
    commands+=('X')          # push command name
    commands+=("$i")         # push file name as one word
    commands+=("$b")         # push munged details as one word
done

function example()
{
    for var in "$@"; do
    echo "=> $var"
    done
}

flags="-a -b -c"

example $flags "${commands[@]}"  # one word per item