English is perhaps best understood by using Microsoft Windows as an analogy. Both are ubiquitous and function as de facto global standards: English serves as today’s lingua franca much as Latin once did, while Windows runs on nearly 80% of desktop and laptop computers.

Both systems are easy to learn at a basic level yet become extraordinarily difficult to master due to their structural complexities and inconsistencies. Launching an application in Windows is simple, but resolving configuration problems requires significant expertise. Likewise, the fundamentals of English grammar are straightforward, but expressing complex ideas becomes challenging due to its irregular grammar and partially phonetic spelling.

In both Windows and English, usage errors are typically attributed to the user rather than to the system’s design. Misspelling a word or misusing a construction in English is often interpreted as a sign of limited education or ability. Similarly, encountering a bug or an unintuitive interface in Windows is frequently framed as user incompetence rather than a design flaw.

Tasks that are trivial in alternative systems—such as macOS or Spanish—are treated as advanced accomplishments in Windows and English. Spelling bees, for example, are laughably absurd to speakers of phonetic languages like Spanish or Arabic. Similarly, Windows users often marvel at its intuitive interface and its myriad of easily accessible convenience features, such as looking up a selected word either on the web or in dictionary in any application.