We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary. (Booker T Washington)

Crazy, crazy English.

English usage is sometimes more than mere taste, judgment and education - sometimes it's sheer luck, like getting across the street. E. B. White 

Viewed freely, the English language is the accretion and growth of every dialect, race, and range of time, and is both the free and compacted composition of all. Walt Whitman

Here too is a polemical song.
Teachers, parents and students alike should check out the latest post on Frank Chalk's blog.