# Do people really not get what a haiku is? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 11, 2013, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-really-not-get-what-a-haiku-is/650016 "2013-02-11T20:42:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2013, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-really-not-get-what-a-haiku-is/650016/1 "2013-02-11T20:42:45Z")
some people think it’s just three or four lines of stuff that doesn’t rhyme ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2013, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-really-not-get-what-a-haiku-is/650016/2 "2013-02-11T20:44:29Z")
I thought for a while That it was five-seven-five Doesn’t have to be. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2013, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-really-not-get-what-a-haiku-is/650016/3 "2013-02-11T20:47:48Z")
A view of nature Poetically given Is a true haiku ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2013, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-really-not-get-what-a-haiku-is/650016/4 "2013-02-11T20:52:31Z")
I think it’s a bit subjective; I have a very hard time seeing how you can put any of [these award-winning](http://www.hsa-haiku.org/hendersonawards/henderson.htm) haiku in to a 1st-2nd-3rd ranking. I recall reading about a breathtakingly beautiful best-haiku-ever that was…one word. It was ‘mist’ or ‘fog’ or ‘veil’ or something like that. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![picker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/picker/32/13969_2.png) [@picker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picker)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2013, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-really-not-get-what-a-haiku-is/650016/5 "2013-02-11T20:53:25Z")
I once knew a man and he came from Nantucket but you know the rest ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2013, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-really-not-get-what-a-haiku-is/650016/6 "2013-02-11T21:47:48Z")
> [@Sicks\_Ate](#): > > I think it’s a bit subjective; I have a very hard time seeing how you can put any of [these award-winning](http://www.hsa-haiku.org/hendersonawards/henderson.htm) haiku in to a 1st-2nd-3rd ranking. > > I recall reading about a breathtakingly beautiful best-haiku-ever that was…one word. It was ‘mist’ or ‘fog’ or ‘veil’ or something like that. :dubious: I liked the top two winners from 2012. Thanks for the link. However, I should point out to the OP: Mean Mister Mustard has a thread of these short poems [thread=553188]Here, I’ll hook you up[/thread] ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2013, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-really-not-get-what-a-haiku-is/650016/7 "2013-02-11T21:55:01Z")
> [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](#): > > I liked the top two winners from 2012. Thanks for the link. However, I should point out to the OP: > Mean Mister Mustard > has a thread of these short poems > [thread=553188]Here, I’ll hook you up[/thread] Well, I wasn’t saying they aren’t enjoyable, many of the examples are very nice. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2013, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-really-not-get-what-a-haiku-is/650016/8 "2013-02-11T21:57:38Z")
Some people try to get all seventeen syllables on just one line. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2013, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-really-not-get-what-a-haiku-is/650016/9 "2013-02-11T22:34:23Z")
Some folks understand. Some people don’t have a clue. What more can I say? ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2013, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-really-not-get-what-a-haiku-is/650016/10 "2013-02-11T22:38:27Z")
I understand what the definition of haiku is. I can’t say I have ever understood the underlying point of it or why it is more important than any other random arrangement. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2013, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-really-not-get-what-a-haiku-is/650016/11 "2013-02-11T22:45:24Z")
Haiku are easy, but they might not make much sense. Refrigerator. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2013, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-really-not-get-what-a-haiku-is/650016/12 "2013-02-11T22:51:52Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > I understand what the definition of haiku is. I can’t say I have ever understood the underlying point of it or why it is more important than any other random arrangement. The Japanese art Of poems spare yet layered Lost in translation ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2013, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-really-not-get-what-a-haiku-is/650016/13 "2013-02-11T23:58:56Z")
“I love catnip mice That’s why I bite their heads off They’re good for breakfast” -Bucky Katt ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2013, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-really-not-get-what-a-haiku-is/650016/14 "2013-02-12T00:00:29Z")
The five-seven-five thing is basically a simplification bordering on a misunderstanding of what Japanese haiku are supposed to be. It’s true that in Japanese haiku, there’s a five-seven-five rule, but it’s not syllables. I forget the term for what is being counted, but it includes things that are not syllables, for example, the sound “-n.” The point of it all was to create a very brief (usually just five or six words total) but surprising and insightful or revelatory image, generally of nature, generally with imagery evocative of a particular season. Hence the sound-counting serves to help the poet create that effect. Also helping is an additional rule of haiku composition (not mentioned in middle school textbooks in the states) that the middle line ought to contain or end on some kind of twist–a break in the image or a change in topic or something along those lines that forces the reader to consider things in a new light. It’s been suggested (I forget by whom but some famous poet or other) that English haiku shouldn’t follow a five/seven/five rule for syllables, but instead a two/three/two rule for _stressed_ syllables. With all that in mind, I once composed a haiku about the board game Go: A final stone, The rain falling outside, and inside, the thunder. ---
**Author:** ![Phnord\_Prephect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/df705f/32.png) [@Phnord\_Prephect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phnord_Prephect)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2013, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-really-not-get-what-a-haiku-is/650016/15 "2013-02-12T00:13:58Z")
I don’t like haiku. I mean, really, what’s the point? Shit don’t even rhyme! ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2013, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-really-not-get-what-a-haiku-is/650016/16 "2013-02-12T00:35:06Z")
I get an Issa haiku every day in the mail, and I find it quite meditative… ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2013, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-really-not-get-what-a-haiku-is/650016/17 "2013-02-12T00:38:48Z")
> [@Frylock](#): > > . . . I forget the term for what is being counted, but it includes things that are not syllables, for example, the sound “-n.” . . . . [Mora](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mora) ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2013, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-really-not-get-what-a-haiku-is/650016/18 "2013-02-12T00:44:09Z")
Aw! Frylock stole my thunder. It takes a while to look up morae, so I’m not going to bother. But I have done one with morae before in response to a thread, where I assumed every stressed syllable counted as 2. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2013, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-really-not-get-what-a-haiku-is/650016/19 "2013-02-12T01:45:20Z")
Are the morae of haiku the same as the things that have characters associated with them? And why do we use a Latin name for them? Surely the Japanese have some name for the same concept? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2013, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-really-not-get-what-a-haiku-is/650016/20 "2013-02-12T02:46:33Z")
The moon hits your eye It’s like a big pizza pie THAT is a morae [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-really-not-get-what-a-haiku-is/650016.md?page=2)