I think I've had my own moment of clarity that spans both Forth(s) and Lisp(s) and explains why neither is as common as other languages.
In most common languages, there is a complicated base spec that covers many cases and defines a broad range of affordances, plus libraries and libraries that expand on an already fleshed out collection of tools and etc.
Forths and Lisps give you the core of an environment, and let/expect you to build on the foundation to create your own implementation. Like someone else in this thread said, N programmers, N dialects. Or, more accurately, every Forth program is its own DSL for accomplishing its work.
In most common languages, there is a complicated base spec that covers many cases and defines a broad range of affordances, plus libraries and libraries that expand on an already fleshed out collection of tools and etc.
Forths and Lisps give you the core of an environment, and let/expect you to build on the foundation to create your own implementation. Like someone else in this thread said, N programmers, N dialects. Or, more accurately, every Forth program is its own DSL for accomplishing its work.