The idea is really nice, but I'm not sure it would work on the OP's Joe, who probably wouldn't even care about the hypothetical language and would regard the whole concept hypothetical, only for those who have way too much free time. (With WoW on the table, you don't have that luxury.)
I would take the route of first order functions -> anonymous functions -> closures, but I think it is really a lost cause for the typical 9-5 programmers.
I would take the route of first order functions -> anonymous functions -> closures, but I think it is really a lost cause for the typical 9-5 programmers.