The article examines programming language preferences, using data from the Stack Overflow Developer Survey to differentiate between "dreaded" and "loved" languages, and explores how these preferences might relate to the lifecycle of programming languages. The discussion highlights that "dreaded" languages are often associated with maintaining older, complex codebases, while "loved" languages are typically newer and used in green-field projects, suggesting a bias towards the novelty and ease of working with newer technologies. It introduces the concept of "brown" languages, which are prevalent in maintenance work, and "green" languages, favored for new projects, illustrating how developers' perceptions are influenced by the nature of their work with these languages. The article also touches on Joel Spolsky's observation that reading code is harder than writing it, contributing to the perception that old code and, by extension, the languages used in it, are problematic. Ultimately, it suggests that the lifecycle of programming language hype sees languages transition from loved to dreaded as they accumulate a legacy of maintenance challenges.