Hmmmm. All this global language talk reminds me of a language that was being touted as the language of the future in the 70's - Esperanto. Anybody heard of it? I know there is still a restaurant in my city that still bears this name but I do not know if anyone still speaks it.

I do think English is increasingly being accepted as a global language. As an example, Health Canada (akin to the American FDA) has recently introduced some rules about the listing of ingredients on medicinal products (phase one which is already being implemented) and health and beauty products (phase two being implemented over next three years). The ingredient listings are a mixture of Latin (for most chemicals) and English. This has been designed in conjunction with the European community and is considered an <international> description. Far be it from me to disagree with these learned men but I think it is piffle. It does not take into account non English-speaking communities - and who speaks Latin in thier day-to-day lives.