I’m a big fan of rules. And I’m guilty of loving the rules of grammar. Never end a sentence with a preposition, that sort of thing. But ultimately, I can’t care too much about it. I’ve always loved how versatile English is.

That’s why I have a love/hate relationship with constructed languages like Esperanto or Ido. Ido appeals to my order-loving half, but I ultimately find it too restrictive to be practical. Let loose upon a large body of speakers, I can’t help but feel it will be contorted and bent. Particularly once it starts adopting words from other languages (as it largely does now, with some extra -o’s stuck on).

English is too good at picking up bits of other languages, Katamari Damacy style. It’s ability to evolve and change is a virtue, not a problem. (Stephen Fry did a podcast about it recently, if you like him.) Although this mutability does make it a bitch to learn, after centuries of rolling around the Earth, picking up dregs of slang, prickly with cows and islands sticking out at all angles.

I’m fascinated by the future of English. It’s currently the lingua franca du jour. But will the Internet congeal that state or break it? I hear that all other countries are learning English as quickly as possible. That Japan and China have a voracious demand for English tutors. But I don’t know how true that is, relative to the demand in other countries to learn Japanese or Chinese. I have a very English-centric viewpoint of the world, and sources of news.

It certainly would be nice if it’s true that the world seems to be adopting English. It would be ever so convenient. And by adopting it in various regional pockets, it’s sure to grow odd, evolving in somewhat isolation. I’d be interested to know all the regional English jargon that must exist in non-English-majority countries.

It’s too bad, I really like Ido.