Not trying to refute anything. Just a passage that comes to mind when reading that opening sentence. Especially with the specific reference how that seems to be common occurrence with Lisp.

In fact, you might argue that OP and PG are saying the same thing. Programming languages are habits of mind, and until you have real understanding of an abstraction, it's a lot easier to think "that looks weird, why don't I just use this other thing I already know".