A professor, or a lecturer? There is a big difference!
He had a point in that the language is something of a mongrel, with Latin, Greek, Celtic, Gaelic, Germanic, Scandinavian and French elements; plus imported names from around the world for things previously unknown in the British Isles, or invented elsewhere.
That is Standard English, too, before considering the multitude of dialect words and constructions around the British Isles.
At least our standard spellings do largely still reflect and respect words' etymology.
