The war de les langues.

Not sure even if that three words of French is correct, but it hardly matters, does it? (actually, to me it would, which is why I ascertained that it should be war 'des langues', but still.)

Agnes Poirier does make at least one mistake in her 'comment is free' entry defending- I think- Jacques Chirac; along with several awkward usages which tend to confirm my sense that English is her second language.

As for the assumption that English is carrying all before it; that may be so, but what kind of English would emerge, and would it be good for Britain, if hordes of people in the world learnt our language the hard way, while we basked in the sense of well-being it gave us?

One crusty old professor (ie. deceased and a theology don) made an interesting comment I came across recently:

'Modern English, it seems to me, is slack instead of taut, verbose and not concise, infested with this month's cliché, no longer the language of a proud and energetic English people, but an international means of communication.'- Prof. Kenneth Grayston.

That was said quite a few years ago (at least pre-1993), and things move quickly in the world out there.