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Haiku Validator

haikuvalidator.com

30 points by mrstone · 33 comments

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17 threads
ubertaco

A little pedantic, but: this will tell you if a poem is shaped like the common English conception of a haiku, but it won't tell you if this is a haiku, because a haiku is more than just counting syllables.

Aside from the fact that "syllables" is not exactly the unit being counted in haiku, there are also considerations of theme, tone, and a sort of "open-ended-ness" – among other considerations.

This article served as my introduction to the actual complexities of haiku: https://forgottenpoets.substack.com/p/haiku-thursdays-one-pl...

  • nadermx

    I just read your tutorial on haiku bulding and wrote one I think applies its framework:

    Hacker news haikus

    Despite reading this substack

    Refregerator

  • dfltr

    Plus the translation issues, where you can have an absolute sledgehammer of a haiku that would need to be watered down in order fit the "correct" meter in English:

    in kyoto / hearing the cry of the cuckoo / i long for kyoto

massimoto

Super fun idea! That syllables package might not be robust enough for this purpose. Even in its documentation's super simple code samples, it estimates the word estimate wrong haha. I think that's somewhat meant to be an admission by the author that it is an estimate.

>>> import syllables

>>> syllables.estimate('estimate')

4

Doesn't matter in the context of making a fun web app though, cool idea!

mrstoneOP

A little flask app to write and validate haikus. It's definitely not perfect and makes some mistakes. It uses the syllables python library to estimate how many syllables are in each word.

You can check the override list at https://haikuvalidator.com/overrides and if you have any suggestions feel free to let me know any words that are broken.

This is my first time making a web app. Hoping that someone finds it fun / useful.

jszymborski

Potato chip bag

Crunchy, like its fried contents

I ate the chip bag

Redster

  a haiku once writ  
  needs validation surely  
  validator's broke  

  Line 1 - 5 / 5  
  a(1) haiku(2) once(1) writ(1)  
  Line 2 - 8 / 7  
  needs(1) validation(4) surely(3)  
  Line 3 - 6 / 5  
  validator's(4) broke(2)
  • riffraff

    isn't surely 2 sillables? That's how the "Don't call me Shirley" joke works in "Airplane!"

    • Redster

      Correct. And broke is also one syllable. Hence "validator's broke".

jacobevelyn

Very cool! I like the interface. For anyone interested in this and similar ideas, haiku/senryū detection is a feature of this old project of mine: https://versepad.com

timonoko

I truly do not understand how Ænglish poetry works, do you appreciate written form or vocalizations?

But Validator works on sane languages too:

  mieleeni muistuu
  tässä yhteydessä eräs tapaus
  joka tapahtui
jasonlotito

Type your haiku.

Hope that it validates

and smile when it does.

Edit: Little tools like this are nice. It's simple, it works, and it's just one of those little toys that people can use to have simple fun.

theodorewiles

Cool idea. Note that sometimes syllables depend on context. So syllable count I think needs to be a range.

Blessed vs “bless-ed” for example

Camera can be said cam-ra or cam-er-a for example.

  • JoshuaDavid

    It's also not limited to words pronounced poetically. Some words where both variants are common, like "wicked", have different numbers of syllables depending on meaning. e.g.

    Beads of sweat wicked through the wicked witch's black robes a hot summer day

2lup382_

I just ate bacon

now my fingers are greasy

as i type this

Line 1

5 / 5

i(1) just(1) ate(1) bacon(2)

Line 2

7 / 7

now(1) my(1) fingers(2) are(1) greasy(2)

Line 3

5 / 5

as(1) i(1) type(2) this(1)

I might have greasy fingers but that ain't right

layer8

It doesn’t work for actual Japanese haiku.

ThinkingGuy

Authentic haiku

need a season word (kigo).

It's true; look it up.

astroflection

It thinks the word "service" is three syllables and "chocolate" is four.

  • riffraff

    AFAICT metric sillables basically count the vowel sounds so service is two and chocolate is two or thre: "ser-vis" (ˈsɜːvɪs) and "chok-lait" or "cho-ko-lait" (ˈʧɔklət or ˈʧɔkolət).

  • rich_sasha

    And "describe" is three.

pxndxx

This is a haiku

I need one to test this app

Love the internet!

  • CBLT

    Whenever I need

    Words for Haiku I reach for

    Refrigerator

James_K

“Trace” is overestimated and “noel” is underestimated.

leoff

I don't know what a

haiku is. can anyone

please explain it?

kazinator

Completely fails on famous haiku:

柿くへば

鐘が鳴るなり

法隆寺

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