Sure, PHP is full of inconsistencies and irregularities. You know what else is? English.
Luckily, programming languages are a bit easier to learn and replace than spoken languages.
I've sometimes heard of programming as an art, like poetry, but if so I'd prefer to maintain that it is a minimalist art that enjoys pragmatism and flourishes when reduced.
Put another way - I don't want to write 'A Tale of Two Cities' in PHP, I want to write a website in PHP. Or more correctly, I don't want to write a website in PHP.
I heard that on the radio, and I've been looking for it for years! If anyone knows the show, ideally the specific show or interviewee, I'd be supremely grateful!
And LISP is the best programming language there is, even if I don't know most of the other programming languages, because LISP has macros.
I highly doubt it anybody is qualified to make such statements, because you'd need to speak fluently every language there is, just to be sure. Seems like somebody just wanted to feel better because his language is the best.