First, a few words of introduction. The original edition of my Ranto page happened to include a passing reference to Hammer Horror movies (as a natural context for the imperative of the verb “to live”), which I was surprised to discover attracted a stream of complaints from Esperantists. What were they being so touchy about? Well, it didn't take me long to deduce the HIDEOUS SECRET they were so desperate to suppress… (Images hyperlinked for the convenience of low‐end browsers)
To avoid any charges that this page presents a somehow jaundiced view of matters, I suppose I'd better set the record straight by including some historical footnotes.
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It is TRUE that Dr L. L. Zamenhof worked as an oculist.
The references to him as “a Polish occultist” that I keep running into are WRONG (besides, he identified not as a Polish Jew but as a Russian–Litvak adherent of “homaranismo”).
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It is TRUE that his middle name was Lazarus – and furthermore that his death occurred exactly a half‐century before my birth. (That's right: I was born in 1967 on the fiftieth anniversary of Zamenhof's death. What's more, voodoo dictator “Papa Doc” Duvalier was born on that day in 1907, and Sarah Michelle Gellar on that day in 1977. The centenary in 2017 also just happens to be Good Friday.)
However it is completely UNTRUE that he vowed to return from the grave and wreak a dreadful revenge.
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It is TRUE that members of the Japanese Ōmoto cult worship Zamenhof as a god.
But the idea that they kidnap monoglots for hideous ritual sacrifices is BASELESS.
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It is TRUE that “Esperanto” was originally the (pen‑)name of the Doctor, not the name of his monstrous creation.
However, it is NOT TRUE that he had a hunchbacked assistant named Ido.
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It is TRUE that William Shatner starred in a sixties horror movie with Esperanto dialogue… oh, and the killer in “Halloween” wore a Shatner facemask.
But NEITHER of those movies featured his singing talents. Censors were stricter in those days.
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It is TRUE that Father Schleyer, inventor of Volapük, claimed that God told him to do it.
Nevertheless, any suggestion that his translation of The Lord's Prayer began “ash nazg durbatulûk” is NONSENSE.
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It is TRUE that the Esperanto for “tomcat” is literally “man‐cat”, and that the best the language has to offer for “undead” is “un‐un‐alive”.
But anybody who tells you that the Esperanto for “good morning” is “bela lugosi” or that “hudu malice vespertilio!” means “what a warm evening!” is a bare‐faced LIAR.