Forth IS different in one way, from most other languages. The syntax doesn't mark which parameters are being passed to which functions. In C for example you have parentheses and commas that provide that information to the reader. The marking of parameters-to-functions helps most readers read a program and determine its meaning.
In some cases it doesn't matter which parameters are going to which functions, and the reader can get a sense or enough of a sense, from the choices of names the programmer made. You can get by without knowing.
But in many cases it is vital to know which parameters are being passed to which subroutine, in order to understand an algorithm. For most people, having to puzzle and re-puzzle this out while the program is being studied is too much extra work or extra ambiguity, or, they just don't buy having to put up with it, given the ready alternatives.
Those specific markings -- parentheses around function calls -- makes a big difference in readability overall.
I've often thought about an editor for a stack/concatenative language that makes the arity of words clearer. like when you select a word it highlights which of the previous words in the definition it's consuming.
I don't know if it would work for forth - too low level - but for something like Factor I could see it being really useful.
In some cases it doesn't matter which parameters are going to which functions, and the reader can get a sense or enough of a sense, from the choices of names the programmer made. You can get by without knowing.
But in many cases it is vital to know which parameters are being passed to which subroutine, in order to understand an algorithm. For most people, having to puzzle and re-puzzle this out while the program is being studied is too much extra work or extra ambiguity, or, they just don't buy having to put up with it, given the ready alternatives.
Those specific markings -- parentheses around function calls -- makes a big difference in readability overall.