Bob,

I must say, what started as a two-word joke/affectionate jab, has made me think a bit. Whilst, if given the same experiences, I might or might not reach the same exact conclusions, I believe we agree overall. You made two points which quite frankly, had not occurred to me; at least not fully. As to the first - while I have always felt blessed to be born where I was, I always relayed this more at the freedoms you and I both enjoy, vs. the lack of said in some other places. I do not believe I have ever thought about being blessed in terms of the language I learned. Excellent point, you are of course right.

I rather sheepishly address the second, as when thinking about global influences, I have tended to think most often in terms limited to the the past several hundred years, as well as more at the influences of 'politics' if you will. Not saying that I ignore more ancient history in any little bit of learning that I might get to do (my country formed after all, as a Roman-Greco form of government), but I admit that I have given less than sufficient thought to the negative effects of global business commerce upon the language. I of course hope that what you envision does not come to pass (as I am sure you do as well); unfortunately, it certainly seems more than possible. Personally, I am saddened and frustrated in observing the overall lack of value for knowledge that seems to be all about us. But for the knowledge that language can bring, we are serfs waiting to happen.

By the way, I caught that little jab "(ish!)". Ouch! Very cute.

Sigh... Thank you, it was indeed 'GPS' that I could not recall. I have oft admitted my sorely felt lacking in mathmatics and fully appreciate the ramifications of dependence upon anything. Although meant with humor, my "until the batteries die" comment was really at this.

Reference Fuller's: gosh, a bit embarassing. Upon opening the link, I am quite confident that you have answered me sometime before about London Pride. Hopefully stuff is not falling out of my brain faster than I can pack it in, but somedays I wonder.

Kindest regards and of course, enjoyable as always,

Mark

@Aussiebear:
Okay, I'll stop, please forgive . I do enjoy our occassional non-Excel discourse here though. It is enjoyable, even just the little things, like looking up/learning a "new" word .