JavaScript and Python are both horribly unfriendly if your end goal is to write complex, reliable software. I say that as a big fan of python.

I largely agree, but the problem isn't the syntax, which is the bit I'm proposing borrowing into Nix. I'm not saying "Nix should have Python's performance or package management" or "Nix should be dynamically typed like JavaScript" (it already does) or any of the other things that make these languages a bummer for significant software projects. I'm saying Nix should be familiar and intuitive to as many programmers as possible, and most programmers can intuit their way around Python or JS syntax.