Technical English is nobody's mother tongue

The part of my brain that rages against injustice stirs like a slumbering dragon when I read the words “Native English”. As a speaker of English as a second language, I find native to be a rather inadequate, if lazy, choice as an attribute meant to describe linguistic proficiency. You’re born with eyes, but that doesn’t automatically make you a competent watcher; you acquire a language, but that doesn’t automatically turn you into a competent writer.