My essay on the future of English in China is in the July issue of Wired. What if examples of Chinglish ("please omnivorously put the waste in garbage can") aren't really bad English? What if they are evidence that the English language is happily leading a secret life without us? (For some reason Wired editors changed "secret life" to "alternative lifestyle" -- maybe a California thing?)

And the erotic photo (to a bibliophile, anyway) that accompanied the essay: