Do not fear for there is an equivalent to ESC! The glorious Ctrl+[

In this case anon just want to search and replace text in file using various text editors, but he describes it funny way:

• acme: very slow process because it requires using mouse and keyboard alternately
• emacs: faster because you don't have to use mouse but requires pressing a lot of weird and complicated key combinations and use many modifier keys like ctrl, alt and so on, in this case description is a bit exaggerated. Also see emacs pinky syndrome
• vim: portrayed as simple and efficient, anon is probably vim user.