> Elixir has also done a good job of translating it for people who like Ruby-style syntax, I prefer the flexibility of the more verbose Erlang.

The really big deal about Elixir is the ability to do LISP-style runtime code execution and generation. Lots of the Elixir language is implemented as macros, and the beauty and power of it is evident when studying the source of Elixir itself and Phoenix. A good example of where this comes into play is implementing a gen_server: in Erlang, this is always a good bit of boilerplate. In Elixir it can be done with a couple of lines, with automatic default implementations provided.

The Elixir syntax is a nice bonus, but the runtime code-generation Elixir brings to the table is a game-changer that takes it to the next level.