Comic Sans

I ran across an article the other day on Facebook about how horrible the Comic Sans MS font is.  Really?  I love this font.  It's my default font for emails in part because it's a bit larger for the size and therefore easier for my old eyes to read.  I love the way it leans towards being cursive without really being cursive.  I gather I'm alone in this since there seems to be a lot of people who hate the font.  

Comic Sans MS is a sans-serif font.  Serifs are the little wispy ends to a letter, the base of the A or the curly cue on the top of the g.  "Sans" means without, so a sans-serif font is a block letter font without all the little flourishes.  The font was originally designed to be used in comics/graphic novels.  You know, the words in the little balloons above the character's head.  It was designed to be a casual font, not at all formal.  It became part of the Microsoft Word program back in the days of Windows 95 so it's been available for a long time.

The argument against the font seems to center on it's use in formal writing.  Apparently a "casual" font isn't allowed in a formal setting.  I'm not sure what qualifies as a formal setting but I guess anywhere other than in little balloons.  The comparison made was like wearing a clown suit to a formal dinner.  Hmmm.  Maybe the folks in the formal attire need to get over themselves.   

On the other side of the question is what makes Comic Sans MS a perfect font.  It is the fact that nearly every single letter is really different from all the others.  The exception is that b and d are mirror images of each other but g and q are not.  This makes this font perfect for people with dyslexia because it's easier to read, easier to distinguish. 

I learned to write cursive as a child, of course, since I'm old, but these days I use a hodgepodge of cursive and printed letters that sort of reminds me of Comic Sans.  I hope the font doesn't go away for all those with dyslexia and for those of us without.