In Praise of English

the living, global language

Ethnologue.com contains articles for "all of the world's 6,912 known living languages." Actually, the number of living languages at any given time is a matter of some dispute. I've seen estimates of as few as 3,000 and greater than 7,000. That being as it may, as near as I can figure, of these many languages, only ten are the native tongue of more than 100 million people.

The general consensus seems to be that English boasts about 375 million native speakers, and those using English as a second language outnumber the native speakers. All told, about 1.5 billion people use English. More people use English than any other language!

English is spoken all over the world. It is the mother tongue in the USA, Canada, Britain, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and several Caribbean countries. Additionally, it has special status in over seventy countries, such as India, and is the most widely taught foreign language in over 100 countries, including China, Spain, Brazil, and Egypt.

The majority of the world's books, newspapers, and magazines are written in English. Most scientific and technical terms are in English. Hollywood is doubtless responsible for helping to make English a global language, too. (Imagine a Western without "howdy.")

How English evolved to the status of 'the global language,' while fascinating, is beyond the scope of this essay. Suffice it to say that English is rather like America. It never met a race, creed, national original, or ethnic type it was not willing to embrace.

It's true! I once heard a comedian comment on this, saying whereas most societies view a newcomer as an outsider, Americans tend to embrace a new person, saying, "Show us your fashions. Tell us about your customs. Why don't you open a restaurant?"

It is in that spirit that rather than shying away foreign words, English welcomes them. All told, English contains about two million words. In comparison, French is comprised of fewer than 100,000. Who doesn't know the meaning of respondez-vous, si-vous plait (RSVP) or cul de sac?

You do not have to be a linguist to understand that there is plenty for IT professionals to like about English. With many words from which to choose, we can be extraordinarily precise. Further, there is logic in English grammar. IT people tend to appreciate logic, if anyone does.

But just as there are continual changes in IT, there are continual changes in English. It is a "living language" that changes as words come in and out of vogue.

For instance, the "split infinitive" is no longer a cause for the gasping of breath. A  popular example of the split infinitive is Star Trek's "to boldly go where no man had gone before." Clearly, we could say, "to go boldly where no man has gone before." Having healed the split infinitive, we'd still be ending our phrase with a preposition, which while it still makes some people cringe, is gaining acceptance in English. It is a living language, after all.

I've heard it said that Winston Churchill, in response to an editor's clumsy rephrasing in an attempt to correct for ending a sentence with a preposition, said, "This is the sort of nonsense up with which I will not put."

Love it or hate it, English is the literary and technical "coin of the realm."

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