In the interest of comparing, using your simplification, here's a Smalltalk version... englishList: aList ^ aList size > 2 ifFalse: [

In the interest of comparing, using your simplification, here's a Smalltalk version... englishList: aList ^ aList size > 2 ifFalse: [ aList join: ' and ' ] ifTrue: [ (aList allButLast join: ',') , ' and ' , aList last ]