Right - Java as a word is heavily overloaded ;). For me, that's the bit that matters - the JVM. Java is just something I use because it's easier than writing bytecode :/

Java as a language, the syntax, is for me sane. It gets a lot of things right, and some things wrong, but on balance, it's sane enough to use. Just like English as a language is sane enough to use, whilst having lots of stupid inconsistencies in spelling/pronunciation etc.

And it's likely to be the fastest/most optimized of any JVM target language.