I have to agree with almost all that's been said in this thread. The speakers of any language own it - even where, as with the Academie Francais, there is an officially-sanctioned attempt to control it. It can't be otherwise.
Lexicographers and grammarians, with the notable exception of Fowler, try to codify the current usage of English. They don't try to direct at all. I've never seen any credible attempt since Noah Webster's little revolution to actually impose one route or another on its direction.
Perhaps, though, we are more in need of a generally accepted base standard for the language than ever. I don't say this through any misguided belief that what
I think is right and wrong is what should become the standard, but because the desperate need for clarity of communication between speakers of the same language who come from different cultures.
I am a member of an international organisation which meets two or three times a year, with one representative from each of thirteen different countries. The one language we "share" is English, so all proceedings are carried out in English. The standard of the different representatives' English varies greatly. The constant complaint is that there is no "accepted" English language standard for them to follow, and I spend a good deal of time at those meetings helping representatives with the language in their reports.
None of this is a criticism. It's just a fact of life!
