It’s a good shout, especially given how large the current speaker base is. Obvi, the alphabet thing cuts both ways — we’re still pushing our alphabet onto hindi, mandarin speakers &c — but that’s unavoidable.

Idk. I find the French verb tense system to be pretty difficult to navigate without a lot of gain in expressivity — I think simpler verb tense systems, like Danish, get the trade off better.

English is definitely not at all coherent or simple by any stretch of the imagination.

My number one language feature I miss in English is a case system. I know not all case languages are non-word order languages (I know Arabic requires both), but I think word order languages are constrictive and cases are the only alternative I’m aware of.

That is a lower bar than I expected tbh

I agree that superiority is a loaded term, and I don’t think I’d try to make the case that English is the best language, but I am curious to know more about which languages you think are better and why.

I’m pretty sure I agree with this take? I do think it’s your civic duty to be familiar with every major story that passes through the 24 hour news cycle. The lie the news media tells is that the best way to do that is to check headlines every 6.8 seconds, when in reality reading a few articles (although you do have to click through and read the whole story) from a reputable source every 1-3 days will leave you much better informed than someone who looks at headlines constantly.