# Why does everyone hate Comic Sans?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-comic-sans/493676
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [April 20, 2009, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-comic-sans/493676 "2009-04-20T01:10:59Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)
#### Post date: [April 20, 2009, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-comic-sans/493676/1 "2009-04-20T01:10:59Z")
I’ve been reading articles recently about Comic Sans-hate. Even the guy who created it doesn’t like it anymore. Why? What’s wrong with Comic Sans?
I love Comic Sans. It’s my favorite common font. When I have a choice of a large range of fonts, I choose simlar fonts like Jester and Kirsten ITC.
CS is so much fun to look at. It’s bouncy and it’s curvy. Why do people get into such a froth about it?
(Now the font that I really can’t stand is Ariel. I hate those straight, narrow letters. Not an ounce of fun in them).
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### Author:  [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)
#### Post date: [April 20, 2009, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-comic-sans/493676/2 "2009-04-20T01:15:54Z")
I had no idea that people hated it. It’s my default font when creating school documents (intended for an 8-year-old audience).
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### Author:  [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)
#### Post date: [April 20, 2009, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-comic-sans/493676/3 "2009-04-20T01:16:37Z")
I think the whole hate started because it’s a cartoony font that ends up getting used for everything from forwarded e-mails from your mom to serious business memos. Comic Sans is the Clip Art of the font world.
Although I think Papyrus is slowly taking over as the most hated font.
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### Author:  [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)
#### Post date: [April 20, 2009, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-comic-sans/493676/4 "2009-04-20T01:22:51Z")
I think the reason Comic Sans is hated is because it’s so overused. As the name implies, it works well if you’re doing a comic-type thing. But it’s often shown up in places where such lightheartedness is not required- or appropriate. It’s even been used on [coins](http://www.cnw.ca/images/rtphotos/Photo-3501.jpg), for God’s sake.
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### Author:  [@PatriotGrrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatriotGrrrl)
#### Post date: [April 20, 2009, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-comic-sans/493676/5 "2009-04-20T02:01:01Z")
Some written things are not supposed to be bouncy and fun.
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### Author:  [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)
#### Post date: [April 20, 2009, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-comic-sans/493676/6 "2009-04-20T02:05:21Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#):
>
> Although I think Papyrus is slowly taking over as the most hated font.
Will things go badly for me if I admit I like Papyrus, too?
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [April 20, 2009, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-comic-sans/493676/7 "2009-04-20T02:09:26Z")
> [@mobo85](#):
>
> It’s even been used on [coins](http://www.cnw.ca/images/rtphotos/Photo-3501.jpg), for God’s sake.
My attention was drawn more by the 4-spot domino and the weird menorah thing. And the seashell.
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### Author:  [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)
#### Post date: [April 20, 2009, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-comic-sans/493676/8 "2009-04-20T02:30:05Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#):
>
> My attention was drawn more by the 4-spot domino and the weird menorah thing. And the seashell.
I think that’s supposed to be a møøse.
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### Author:  [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)
#### Post date: [April 20, 2009, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-comic-sans/493676/9 "2009-04-20T02:33:02Z")
> [@mobo85](#):
>
> It’s even been used on [coins](http://www.cnw.ca/images/rtphotos/Photo-3501.jpg), for God’s sake.
I know that some Americans think that Canadian currency looks “funny,” but… you do know… uh…
Oh, never mind.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [April 20, 2009, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-comic-sans/493676/10 "2009-04-20T02:35:02Z")
> [@friedo](#):
>
> I think that’s supposed to be a møøse.
I thought a smiley would be overdoing it. 😉
By the way, a møøse once bit my sister.
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### Author:  [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)
#### Post date: [April 20, 2009, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-comic-sans/493676/11 "2009-04-20T02:42:48Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#):
>
> My attention was drawn more by the 4-spot domino and the weird menorah thing. And the seashell.
Can’t breathe. “Menorah thing” is a moose. hahahahahah. Funny.
My husband (from across the room) “that looked kinda like a penis”
Me: “No, it’s just Canada.”
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### Author:  [@Dog80](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dog80)
#### Post date: [April 20, 2009, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-comic-sans/493676/12 "2009-04-20T02:44:50Z")
It looks like [Lumpy](http://www.purple-twinkie.com/HappyTreeFriends/images/bios/HappyTreeFriends-lumpy.gif) from Happy Tree Friends.
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### Author:  [@wunderkammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wunderkammer)
#### Post date: [April 20, 2009, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-comic-sans/493676/13 "2009-04-20T03:15:46Z")
> [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#):
>
> What’s wrong with Comic Sans?
First of all, for what it is (a font meant to emulate comic book hand-lettering and to be used _in that context_, it’s just not very good. [Take a look at some comic book fonts that are actually used in the business.](http://www.comicbookfonts.com/cartoon/catalog.html?sid=0001qFBb0y4KpJITDs5k1N9&keywords=fonts/BL) They’re just as casual and many are bouncy, too, but most of them are cleaner and more fluid.
Now look at Comic Sans again. It’s just plain [awkward](http://www.identifont.com/samples/microsoft/ComicSansMS.gif). The lines all look just a bit amateurish and uncertain, all of the letters are leaning in very slight but misaligned directions, and there’s no sense of movement. Notice how the lowercase i and j and p and q lean in opposite directions like wallflower preteens trying to talk to each other? That godawful lowercase m? I don’t see “fun”. I see “awkward and inept attempt to appear fun”.
So if I were Microsoft’s powers that be, some other, more confident comic book font would be the default casual printed script, and it would be perfectly okay when used in a comic book context, or for printing up a few things like birthday invitations or posters for a school picnic. Still, it wouldn’t be immune to overuse, but I think other posters have covered that issue pretty well. In short, what’s fun to look at isn’t always what’s least stressful to read, and, in my opinion, trying to inject extra personality into a document by using a conspicuous novelty font is the equivalent of playing wacky sound effects and incidental music to “improve” a conversation.
Yeah, you hit a nerve there. The same nerve that lets bubblegum flavor or navy blue or the saxophone turn me into a horrible person…
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### Author:  [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)
#### Post date: [April 20, 2009, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-comic-sans/493676/14 "2009-04-20T03:22:39Z")
> [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#):
>
> Will things go badly for me if I admit I like Papyrus, too?
Probably. Just like Comic Sans says “third grade” and “forwarded glurge from your aunt”, Papyrus says “yoga studio”, “food co-op” and “upscale Indian or Asian restaurant in a not-so-trendy small to mid-sized metropolitan area like Omaha or Rochester”. Comic Sans is beloved by teachers and unsophisticated secretaries; Papyrus is the favorite of yoga moms that buy tea with flavors like “rejuvenation” and “calm”.
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### Author:  [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)
#### Post date: [April 20, 2009, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-comic-sans/493676/15 "2009-04-20T03:38:58Z")
> [@mobo85](#):
>
> I think the reason Comic Sans is hated is because it’s so overused. As the name implies, it works well if you’re doing a comic-type thing. But it’s often shown up in places where such lightheartedness is not required- or appropriate. It’s even been used on [coins](http://www.cnw.ca/images/rtphotos/Photo-3501.jpg), for God’s sake.
That’s pretty horrible, but I don’t think it was ever a circulation coin.
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### Author:  [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)
#### Post date: [April 20, 2009, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-comic-sans/493676/16 "2009-04-20T05:20:15Z")
I just find it difficult on the eyes. I’ll leave it for brighter minds to determine why that is.
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### Author:  [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)
#### Post date: [April 20, 2009, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-comic-sans/493676/17 "2009-04-20T05:41:24Z")
At least it’s not **IMPACT!**
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### Author:  [@Stealth\_Potato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stealth_Potato)
#### Post date: [April 20, 2009, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-comic-sans/493676/18 "2009-04-20T06:04:52Z")
I direct your attention to the [relevant Achewood strip](http://achewood.com/index.php?date=07052007). 😛
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### Author:  [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)
#### Post date: [April 20, 2009, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-comic-sans/493676/19 "2009-04-20T06:17:24Z")
> [@wunderkammer](#):
>
> Now look at Comic Sans again. It’s just plain [awkward](http://www.identifont.com/samples/microsoft/ComicSansMS.gif). The lines all look just a bit amateurish and uncertain, all of the letters are leaning in very slight but misaligned directions, and there’s no sense of movement. Notice how the lowercase i and j and p and q lean in opposite directions like wallflower preteens trying to talk to each other? That godawful lowercase m? I don’t see “fun”. I see “awkward and inept attempt to appear fun”.
I agree that THAT looks horrible, but it also doesn’t look like Comic Sans to me.
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz See? They’re all lined up nice and proper, not leaning like wallflower preteens (great image, BTW!)
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### Author:  [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)
#### Post date: [April 20, 2009, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-comic-sans/493676/20 "2009-04-20T06:39:50Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#):
>
> I think the whole hate started because it’s a cartoony font that ends up getting used for everything from forwarded e-mails from your mom to serious business memos. Comic Sans is the Clip Art of the font world.
Yeah, it just got overused for several years–early years of the World Wide Web.
> [@](#):
>
> Although I think Papyrus is slowly taking over as the most hated font.
Nooooo! Say it isn’t so!
No, really, any font that isn’t really unobtrusive is going to get tired with overuse.
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