but even if english does one day become the de facto common language of europe, what then? will it mean a greater social cohesiveness? or will european english evolve into its own dialect, like indian english? or will it break down into a variety of patois? what, after all, are french, italian, and spanish but localized descendants of latin?

it’s probably not worth worrying yet about the health of europe’s languages. and we might as well enjoy that it’s a lot easier than it used to be to order a plate of tripe. —