Most people new to languages with Lisp syntax find it difficult to read at first. At some point, it becomes natural to read and write it that way. More importantly, it becomes obvious how useful having a consistent and extensible syntax is to writing all sorts of things.

Eventually the C-style syntax feels “messy” because the symbols are used less consistently. At the same time, Lisps like Dylan transitioned to a more conventional syntax and can still maintain lots of the power that they got with S-expressions.