English Language

We have really everything in common with America nowadays, except, of course, language.
Oscar Wilde
The Canterville Ghost.

English is our contemporary world's Lingua Franca, which is unfortunate because the language is rather difficult in both its pronunciation and structure, although it has a simpler practical grammar than most. Even Britons from remote corners of the island sometime struggle to understand each other [1]. Spanish would do a much better job as a universal language, and it may ultimately prevail. It already won much space in the United States.

It is easy enough to communicate basic needs and information (but then any language would do). But consider indeed concepts such as U and non-U English, i.e., being ill in bed or sick on the boat characterizes you as upper class while being sick in bed or ill on the boat appear, on the opposite, middle-class. Not even there is no logic, isn't it shocking that what? be posh and pardon? be lower class.

On the Wikipedia's talk page, a user convincingly suggests: Words such as "bike", "sick", and "rich" may seem non-Upper in their simplicity, but it is the self-confidence of the Uppers that lets them use such simple words. Non-Upper speakers, on the other hand, feel as if they must inflate their language with multisyllabic or Latinate words in their best attempt to imitate the more sophisticated Upper speakers.