I enjoyed this article. But to clarify Chomsky's claim, he once used the analogy of submarines. In some languages (Russian, I vaguely recall?), submarines swim. In English, submarines don't swim. It's a matter of language. Any of us would be willing to accept the analogy, unless we're being really pedantic; it's not a big deal.

(I personally used the analogy last week, when I said, "I believe that was 2011, but maybe your computer thinks otherwise?" and the (non-IT) person immediately understood without comment.)