Which language would I choose if I could only code in one language for the rest of my life? English, of course. I can encode more meaning in English than those examples you gave, and that's my criteria. But I wouldn't blame someone else for choosing C if their criteria was how fast code written in that language could run on a PC, or Lisp if their criteria was building DSL's quickly, or Russian if their criteria was communicating with people living in Novosibirsk.