Note that Geoffrey Pullum is a distinguished linguist, editor of the Cambridge Grammar of the English Language, and a frequent blogger at LanguageLog.<p>The tone of this article should be taken as more light than many here are; this sort of thing is a frequent hobbyhorse for linguists and mostly just evinces love for and humility about English.<p>But keep in mind that support for English is wide but shallow. There have been other international languages before and there will be again.