I think this is exactly it. Before reading these HN comments, I forwarded the article to my wife, saying effectively "I was amazed that I was able to read the

I think this is exactly it. Before reading these HN comments, I forwarded the article to my wife, saying effectively "I was amazed that I was able to read the paragraph of whacky text in Ivo font, even as, after reading it, I went back to look at the font and then realized I couldn't read individual words or letters!"