Tumblr Discovers Infuriating Defense For Comic Sans

"Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds." – J. Robert Oppenheimer

On December 8th, 2018, Tumblr user arahir shared a discovery that shook the site to its core: Comic Sans increases productivity. In fact, what is arguably the most reviled font on the internet may be the singular most effective weapon against writer's block known to mankind.

According to arahir, their friend "phaltu" stated that setting one's font to Comic Sans before writing increases writing speed and creativity by "an insane amount." "No," said arahir. "Die." They hated phaltu because they told them the truth.

When arahir tested phaltu's theory, they discovered that, it was, unfortunately, accurate. "I wish it wasn’t this way," they wrote. I wish it wasn’t true. I wish i could protect you all from this but it’s real." They continued:

something about this font is so disarming. something about this font lets you look past the shape of the words and into their soul. i’ve never written so much as i did last night, on my phone, at 2am, in comic sans.
if you have writer’s block. if you lack inspiration. if you need this. don’t be afraid to use it. sometimes the things we find most horrifying are also the things we need the most. trust me. let comic sans into your life.

As the post spread like a thought virus, others on the platform were horrified to test the theory for themselves and confirm its accuracy. User vsquaredk wrote, "I laughingly suggested (this theory) to my wife (who had a good number of essays to write and less than a week to write them). She finished 3 essays in 2 days using comic sans. She was livid."

Later that December, Lifehacker and Medium writer Dolores Toner both wrote articles in defense of the font. Recently, Daily Dot discovered the original Tumblr thread and wrote about it.

One theory about why this infuriating life hack works is that the irregular letter shapes of Comic Sans help each syllable stand out more, which is why its a preferred font of people with dyslexia. Lifehacker writer A.A. Newton stated, "Writing in Comic Sans has helped me break inefficient habits I’ve clung onto since college. The words all melt into a cohesive mass that I’m able to consider as a whole, rather than immediately needing to pick apart, so I write faster and more fluidly. As a freelancer, that’s never a bad thing."

Thus it seems like Comic Sans, though annoying at times, can be quite useful. Much like another comic Sans…