The phrase "worse is better" was coined precisely to explain the success of C, and I consider that paper required reading for entering this discussion.
"Worse is better" has nothing to do with it. Stop saying it every time anything you think is bad comes up. It's incredibly arrogant, the way people basically spam "worse is better" like they're in Twitch chat every time C, Unix, HTTP, or anything else that they perceive as imperfect comes up.
But I do consider that article a good explanation of the tremendous success of C and Unix, and I think its perspective should be part of these discussions.