If english is not lingua franca...

English came to power due to many reasons, mostly because of WWII as previously stated, but even before that it was essentially the language of science and business, mostly thanks to the Vatican *I won't go into hard facts about this, as my knowledge has been mostly skewed after reading Angels and Demons*.

English is probably not going to go anywhere for a while yet though. Not only does it stand as the language of business etc.., but it is also the most widely second language taught in the world, including in the new up and coming country superpowers *China and India*. Then of course there's the fact that English is much easier to learn than most, and while not the most, is more *efficient* than french and such.

Jam it back in, in the dark.