My name is Tony D'Agostino.  I live in Seneca Falls, NY and would
like to meet others in the Finger Lakes area interested in learning and 
using Esperanto.
  What is Esperanto?  It is an international language in use for 
over a century and currently used by millions in more than 100 
countries.  It can be learned 4-5 times quicker than other languages 
due to the fact that it has only 16 grammatical rules, words are 
spelled like they sound and its vocabulary is based on roots to which 
suffixes and prefixes are added to form other words.  You do not 
have to be a linguist to learn Esperanto.  Its grammar is so easy 
anyone can be using it in very little time.  I have studied seven 
foreign languages and taught two languages, and have never seen a 
language so versatile and easy to learn.  I personally have used it
to communicate with people on three continents.
   Isn't English the international language?  Chinese is actually 
spoken by more people than any other language, and while English is 
currently the most widespread language it is rapidly loosing ground.
In the late 1950s almost 10% of the world population spoke English.
Currently that percentage has dropped by 25% and is still falling. 
Politically English is unacceptable as an international language in
many countries.  Also it is extremely difficult language to learn.
Many people are afraid of seeing their own language and culture 
disappear.  Esperanto is politically neutral, is much easier than 
English to learn and is not intended to replace anyone's language. 
Also, having English as the international language gives an unfair 
advantage to native English speakers in international communications. 
By using Esperanto, everyone is on a level playing field.
   If you are interrested in learning more about Esperanto please 
contact me at my e-mail address below.  Also, please check out some
of the links below.  I highly recommend the free 10-lesson 
correspondance course offered by the Esperanto League for North 
America.  It was fun, easy and you go at your own pace.   

About English:
We'll begin with a box, and the plural is boxes,
but the plural of ox becomes oxen, not oxes.
One fowl is a goose, but two are called geese,
yet the plural of moose should never be meese.
You may find a lone mouse or a nest full of mice
yet the plural of house is houses, not hice.

If the plural of man is always called men,
why shouldn't the plural of pan be called pen?
If I spoke of my foot and show you my feet,
and I give you a boot, would a pair be called beet?
If one is a tooth and a whole set are teeth,
why shouldn't the plural of booth be called beeth?

Then one may be that and three would be those,
yet hat in the plural would never be hose.
and the plural of cat is cats not cose.
We speak of a brother and also of brethren,
but though we say mother, we never say methren.
Then the mascular pronouns are he, his and him, but imagine the
feminine, she shis and shim.

Let's face it - English is a crazy language.
There's no egg in eggplant nor ham in hamburger,
neither apple nor pine in pineapple.
English muffins weren't invented in England.
We take English for granted. But if we explore its paradoxes, we find  that
quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square,
and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.

And why is it that writers write but fingers don't fing,
grocers don't groce and hammers don't ham?
Doesn't it seem crazy to you that you can make amends but not one amend?
If you have a bunch of odds and ends, and get rid of all but one of
them, what do you call it?

If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught?
If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?
Sometimes I think all the folks who grew speaking English
should be committed to an asylum for the insane.

In what other language do people recite at a play and play at a  recital?

We ship by truck  but send cargo by ship.
We have noses that run and feet that smell.
And how can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same
while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites?

You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language
in which your house can burn up as it burns down
in which you fill in a form by filling it out
and in which the alarm goes off by going on.

So, if Father is Pop, how come Mother isn't Mop?

And that is just the beginning- even though this is the end.

Esperanto and other Links