> favor a small language

Yes exactly - somehow internally it grates against my instinct that simpler is always better to have a bolt-on language that layers all its own classes and APIs on top of a host language. I feel like that just can't be better in the long run and it if it is better now it can only be a temporary state of affairs.

But then, I also like Groovy which is kind of the ultimate version of a bolt on language, so maybe I am just ex post facto rationalising my internal preferences.