English: the 18th century underdog to be lingua franca
Trivia from LL:
In 1783, the Berlin Academy held a competition for essays on the subject of the widespread usage of French, and its prospects for continuing as the lingua franca of European intellectuals. Apparently nine submissions argued that French would continue; nine that it would be replaced by German; and one that Russian would win out. (English got no votes.)
De Rivarol made his case for French:
Posted by Nathan Bierma on 10/31 at 01:23 PM
Next entry: 'On Language' 11/2: A sizable book on short words
Previous entry: 'On Language' 10/26: Bring back thou and thee!