If I think about it, the UNIX tradition in general is tools/utilities that require you to read the manual before using them...

But I suppose Vim is unique in that it grabs your whole screen and you can't just Ctrl+D or Ctrl+C to close it. If you've never seen Vim before and your version of it doesn't print instructions on how to close it once you press Ctrl+C, that can be a problem...

Now I'm wondering: why don't they make the same meme about Emacs? Ctrl+X Ctrl+C is not any more intuitive than :q...