On lisp hate: back in the mid-/late-90s on Slashdot it was en vogue to make jokes about lisp. I'm fairly certain it originated in the spirit of the Unix haters handbook, in that it was in-group therapy for the initiated. But then I think it just became a thing that won karma points, and thus was repeated as a truism.

I remember working the university computer helldesk in the late nineties and repeating such a joke to the smartest white-bearded Unix wizard I've ever met. He rattled off five or six more jokes about lisp, and then proceeded to explain the AI systems he used to work on, and why it was his favorite language.

Having never really coded in lisp myself, I was immediately ashamed of the fact that I had been thoughtlessly making light of a thing that others valued. And years later, I'm atoning by trying to use Racket (sometimes Clojure) whenever I can.

I should be clear that I think I fell victim to that. Specifically, I recall I used to at least laugh at those jokes. Can't remember making them, but I also don't remember really understanding them.

So, I could just be projecting. Likely, I am. I would love to be wrong, at least.

There was no mid-90's Slashdot. It started in late 1997. I should know, I'm user #1484. :)

Mid-late-: the average of 1995 and 1999? :-p

And #5648, but I was a lurker for some time before a friend convinced me to register.

EDIT: but yes, lisp hate meme was probably firmly late 90s