From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 To: 9fans@cse.psu.edu From: ozan s yigit Message-ID: References: <20020703160003.27491.58783.Mailman@psuvax1.cse.psu.edu>, <3D258491.17320.32575B@localhost> Subject: Re: [9fans] blanks in file names Date: Mon, 8 Jul 2002 16:14:55 +0000 Topicbox-Message-UUID: c5a85442-eaca-11e9-9e20-41e7f4b1d025 > Isn't a haiku supposed to have 17 syllables? if you are writing in english, not necessarily. yes if you are writing in japanese. in that case, it should have seventeen (five/seven/five) *onji* which is not a syllable, but a sound symbol. these sound symbols are shorter and more uniform than english syllables. this is is a roundabout way of saying something many translators and english haiku poets (as i have in reading and composing haiku for sometime now) found: english haiku needs only about ten to twelve syllables to have nearly the same duration and rhythm as a japanese haiku. so don't feel the need to pad a haiku if you find it sounds right to your ears in ten or thirteen syllables. remember haiku is unforced, without frills and literary flourishes. winter moonlight - little laptop warm with plan9. [oz/2002] oz --- Never let your job get in the way of your work. -- Sir Isaac Newton, Master of the Royal Mint