# why does everyone hate comic sans?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-comic-sans/363920
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [July 10, 2006, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-comic-sans/363920 "2006-07-10T19:56:10Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@StewTicky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StewTicky)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2006, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-comic-sans/363920/1 "2006-07-10T19:56:10Z")
I am just curious really. I don’t understand what the problem is, or why it is almost universally considered evil. I am not saying I love it or anything, but I don’t find it especially offensive. I wouldn’t use it on a term paper or report for work obviously, but what is the big deal? How and why did this comic sans hating start?
🙂
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### Author:  [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2006, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-comic-sans/363920/2 "2006-07-10T20:02:09Z")
Personal observation with no attempt to address “why everyone” does anything: my associations with the font have come by way of obnoxious people who use that approach to belittle others. It’s not the font’s fault assholes seem to gravitate to it. YMMV
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### Author:  [@yBeayf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yBeayf)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2006, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-comic-sans/363920/3 "2006-07-10T20:31:01Z")
Because it’s a hideous, ugly, disjointed, _annoying_ turd of a font. That’s why.
(Mind you, most sans serif typefaces aren’t much better.)
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### Author:  [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2006, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-comic-sans/363920/4 "2006-07-10T20:44:13Z")
To me, it always brings to mind some Jean Teasdale-esque woman, typing a memo or newsletter or flyer, and looking for the \*OMG cutest \* font she can find. Since Comic Sans is the only remotely girly of the stock MS fonts…bingo.
Sorry…too many bad experiences grading papers in college. I’ve come to associate the font with badly researched, badly written papers by people named Ashley and Brittany.
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### Author:  [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2006, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-comic-sans/363920/5 "2006-07-10T20:47:32Z")
I think it’s an unconscious recognition that it’s the “Gilligan’s Island credits” font that makes the reader feel that they _must_ have something better to do than read this.
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### Author:  [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2006, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-comic-sans/363920/6 "2006-07-10T21:01:12Z")
A quote from an editor I worked on a college literary and news magazine with:
“Comic Sans is for dumb sorority girls to use in their AIM profiles.”
I then looked at the buddy info for what few sorority girls were actually there…out of the four, three had comic sans.
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### Author:  [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2006, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-comic-sans/363920/7 "2006-07-10T21:12:08Z")
There are plenty of available fonts out there that are better than comic sans. I’ve got around ten comic book, comic strip, and animation fonts and their variants. People use comic sans because it’s a stock font on Windows. (Combined with a bit of stupidity.)
I wouldn’t ever use it, but I don’t hate it.
What I hate is Papyrus.
I hate it, hate it, hate it, hate it. If I could, I’d do to Papyrus what George Lucas wants to do to the Star Wars Christmas Special.
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### Author:  [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2006, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-comic-sans/363920/8 "2006-07-10T21:17:55Z")
I dunno if you’re asking specifically in regards to this board, but this board prides itself on substance over style (no avatars, sigs are simple, no animated smilies, no colored text, etc). Since so much of the board is uniform (which is good, considering what the board is about), any deviation distracts from the message a given post is trying to convey.
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### Author:  [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2006, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-comic-sans/363920/9 "2006-07-10T21:19:08Z")
> [@OneCentStamp](#):
>
> To me, it always brings to mind some Jean Teasdale-esque woman, typing a memo or newsletter or flyer, and looking for the \*OMG cutest \* font she can find. Since Comic Sans is the only remotely girly of the stock MS fonts…bingo.
>
> Sorry…too many bad experiences grading papers in college. I’ve come to associate the font with badly researched, badly written papers by people named Ashley and Brittany.
Send your Ashleys and Brittanys to me! I’ll sort em out real good for ya.
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### Author:  [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2006, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-comic-sans/363920/10 "2006-07-10T22:03:35Z")
> [@Troy McClure SF](#):
>
> (no avatars, sigs are simple, no animated smilies, **no colored text** , etc).
Bolding mine.
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### Author:  [@tashabot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tashabot)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2006, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-comic-sans/363920/11 "2006-07-10T22:49:17Z")
Probably for the same reason people are sick of Eminem: over used/played.
Go to any “n00b” site on Geocities sometime, nine chances out of ten they’ll have Comic Sans as their font. It just gets annoying.
~Tasha
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### Author:  [@SkeptiJess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkeptiJess)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2006, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-comic-sans/363920/12 "2006-07-10T23:32:06Z")
No kidding. I didn’t know about the hate for this font. I kinda like it – to the degree I like any font. It’s readable and attractive. I use it on my business website.
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### Author:  [@YaWanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YaWanna)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2006, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-comic-sans/363920/13 "2006-07-10T23:41:49Z")
Hmm - guess I learned something new. I don’t fit the “profile”, but I used to use comic sans for my personal email font. I don’t know why, except I just liked the way it looked - not “businessy” and still easy to read.
I’ll never be able to use it again. :o
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### Author:  [@biometricks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/biometricks)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2006, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-comic-sans/363920/14 "2006-07-10T23:51:10Z")
FWIW this is straight from the official [Ban Comic Sans website](http://www.bancomicsans.com/about.html)
> [@](#):
>
> We believe in the sanctity of typography and that the traditions and established standards of this craft should be upheld throughout all time. From Gutenberg’s letterpress to the digital age, type in all forms is sacred and indispensable. Type is a voice; its very qualities and characteristics communicate to readers a meaning beyond mere syntax.
>
> Early type designing and setting was so laborious that it is a blasphemy to the history of the craft that any fool can sit down at their personal computer and design their own typeface. Technological advances have transformed typography into a tawdry triviality. The patriarchs of this profession were highly educated men. However, today the widespread heretical uses of this medium prove that even the uneducated have opportunities to desecrate this art form; therefore, destroying the historical integrity of typography.
>
> Like the tone of a spoken voice, the characteristics of a typeface convey meaning. The design of the typeface is, in itself, its voice. Often this voice speaks louder than the text itself. Thus when designing a “Do Not Enter” sign the use of a heavy-stroked, attention-commanding font such as Impact or Arial Black is appropriate. Typesetting such a message in Comic Sans would be ludicrous. Though this is sort of misuse is frequent, it is unjustified. Clearly, Comic Sans as a voice conveys silliness, childish naivete, irreverence, and is far too casual for such a purpose. It is analogous to showing up for a black tie event in a clown costume.
>
> We are summoning forth the proletariat around the globe to aid us in this revolution. We call on the common man to rise up in revolt against this evil of typographical ignorance. We believe in the gospel message “ban comic sans.” It shall be salvation to all who are literate. By banding together to eradicate this font from the face of the earth we strive to ensure that future generations will be liberated from this epidemic and never suffer this scourge that is the plague of our time.
The site’s gotta be a gag…
I dislike the people that use comic sans more than the font itself. There’s just something about them and their over use of it and they often make the font size larger than normal and that just annoys me.
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### Author:  [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)
#### Post date: [July 11, 2006, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-comic-sans/363920/15 "2006-07-11T01:05:27Z")
Just overused. I usually feel like someone who spends that much time choosing a font is trying to distract from the lack of content.
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### Author:  [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)
#### Post date: [July 11, 2006, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-comic-sans/363920/16 "2006-07-11T01:14:44Z")
I think we can safely say that 99% of sane adults haven’t a clue what “Comic Sans” refers to. So it’s quite safe to say that not “everyone” hates Comic Sans. (Which I had to look up just now.) In fact, in the practical sense that 99% of the adult population may as well be “everyone,” “everyone” doesn’t give a crap.
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### Author:  [@Anaptyxis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaptyxis)
#### Post date: [July 11, 2006, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-comic-sans/363920/17 "2006-07-11T01:20:58Z")
Where I work, every document that comes out of HR is done in Comic Sans. Nuff said - those people are Grade A idjits.
As for sans serif fonts, many of them are quite beautiful, including the default for this board, which on my Mac comes out as Trebuchet. Other good sans serifs (IMO): Gill Sans (which has a magnificent lowercase g), Myriad, and Futura.
But producing business documents in Comic? All I can say is: :eek:
p.s. **RickJay** : In my experience, typographers are rarely what you would call sane, so no problem there. 😃
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### Author:  [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)
#### Post date: [July 11, 2006, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-comic-sans/363920/18 "2006-07-11T02:49:41Z")
One recieves a lot of stupid “glurge” emails in one’s inbox that utilized multi-colored Comic Sans.
Think about the people who write and spread glurge.
Do you want to be like them? Ick.
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### Author:  [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)
#### Post date: [July 11, 2006, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-comic-sans/363920/19 "2006-07-11T02:50:12Z")
> [@Jess](#):
>
> No kidding. I didn’t know about the hate for this font. I kinda like it – to the degree I like any font. It’s readable and attractive. **I use it on my business website**.
:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:
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### Author:  [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)
#### Post date: [July 11, 2006, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-comic-sans/363920/20 "2006-07-11T03:00:56Z")
> [@RickJay](#):
>
> I think we can safely say that 99% of sane adults haven’t a clue what “Comic Sans” refers to. So it’s quite safe to say that not “everyone” hates Comic Sans. (Which I had to look up just now.) In fact, in the practical sense that 99% of the adult population may as well be “everyone,” “everyone” doesn’t give a crap.
Thank Og you posted this, I was wondering how I remained so ignorant of the great hatred towards Comics Sans.
Jim { **Hal** , [COLOR=Green]why did [/COLOR] you have to go and do that to poor **Troy**?)
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