That language made a permanent contribution to English but, within 200 years, medieval English had asserted itself as the tongue used by both the administrative class and by those they ruled.

Such behaviour is not unique to the English: Gaelic is taught in Irish schools as a reminder that the indigenous population has always had a culture of its own, rooted in a language of its own.

Since Russia’s attack on Ukraine in 2022, the people it has attempted to conquer have striven to free their own language from Russian influences.

Perhaps because we have not been physically conquered by the Americans we see no problem with our willingly adopting their version of English in place of ours. But what our increasingly willing talk of “train stations”, “doubling down”, “starting over” and feeling “obligated” signifies is that the distinctions our language has long maintained from other versions of English are rapidly dying.

What tosh; no need to be so passremarkable about the topic, old chap!