People are not scared of lisp syntax. They just don't recognise it. First impressions really count. If somebody doesn't even recognise something at first glance then the vast majority of then aren't going to engage with it further. The people who are left are not enough to make something popular. Why don't they recognise it? - Because it's not familiar. Every child learns mathematics in school. In mathematics the convention is f(x) = 2x + 1. The function name is outside the brackets and the parameters are within. Names are important and names of things generally tend to be on the outside. Think about the name of a restaurant, a town, a house, a car manufacturer's badge, a box of cornflakes, filing cabinet drawers, folders in the filing cabinet etc. etc. All of these names or labels are on the outside of the object. Most people aren't afraid of lisp syntax they just don't even recognise it enough to engage with it further.