With all due respect, this impression is just folklore. The difference between Scala and Clojure is the difference between ML and Lisp. Languages from the ML f

With all due respect, this impression is just folklore. The difference between Scala and Clojure is the difference between ML and Lisp. Languages from the ML family are statically typed by definition, therefore they need slightly more features to be expressive. On the other hand, the trade-off is worth it for many people, because the compiler actually helps you - for example it's far easier to work with various functors (such as monads) in ML languages, than it is to do that in Lisp. Also, Clojure is not "painfully restrictive" or "curated". Name one thing that Clojure doesn't allow you to do.