Dijkstra (in 1975) strongly dislikes FORTRAN, BASIC, APL, PL/I, and COBOL. What languages did he like? Pascal?
> Lisp has jokingly been called "the most intelligent way to misuse a computer". I think that description is a great compliment because it transmits the full flavor of liberation: it has assisted a number of our most gifted fellow humans in thinking previously impossible thoughts.
Source: http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/EWD/transcriptions/EWD07xx/EW...
The memo you're quoting[1] is a lot milder about Lisp, but doesn't come across as the ramblings of a "Smug Lisp Weenie" (disclaimer: I'm currently having a lot of fun playing around with Clojure, so I might not be entirely objective).
[1] http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/EWD/transcriptions/EWD12xx/EW...