Sunday, October 28, 2007

Haiku Messages


There's an urban myth floating around that says the following: 

In Japan , they have replaced the impersonal Microsoft error messages with Haiku poetry messages. Haiku Poetry has strict construction rules: Each poem has only 17 Syllables - 5 syllables in the first line, 7 in the second, 5 in the third. They often achieve a wistful, yearning, and powerful insight through extreme brevity.

Aren't these better than "your computer has performed an illegal operation?"

Now--according to Snopes.com, these aren't Japanese at all, but the collected winning entries from a contest sponsored by SALON in 1998.  That sounds more like it.  :-)  


------------------------------------------------------
The Web site you seek

Cannot be located, but

Countless more exist.

-------------------- ------------------------
Chaos reigns within.

Reflect, repent, and reboot.

Order shall return.

--------------------------------------------
Program aborting.

Close all that you have worked on.

You ask far too much.

--------------------------------------------
Windows NT crashed.

I am the Blue Screen of Death.

No one hears your screams.

--------------------------------------------
Yesterday it worked.

Today it is not working.

Windows is like that.

--------------------------------------------
Your file was so big.

It might be very useful.

But now it is gone.

--------------------------------------------
Stay the patient course.

Of little worth is your ire.

The network is down.

----------------------------- ---------------
A crash reduces

Your expensive computer

To a simple stone.

--------------------------------------------
Three things are certain:

Death, taxes and lost data.

Guess which has occurred.

--------------------------------------------
You step in the stream,

But the water has moved on.

This page is not here.

--------------------------------------------
Out of memory.

We wish to hold the whole sky,

But we never will.

--------------------------------------------
Having been erased,

The document you're seeking

Must now be retyped.

--------------------------------------------

Serious error.

All shortcuts have disappeared.

Screen. Mind. Both are blank.

--------------------------------------------
I ate your Web page.

Forgive me; it was tasty

And tart on my tongue.
__________________________________________________
From Angie:

Now you have read these--
Do you share the same feeling?
Write your own poem now.

~~Angie

4 comments:

  1. Anonymous11:04 PM

    did you write all of those? that's
    really good!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous11:17 PM

    Aren't they delightful? Go to snopes.com and type "haiku" in the search box to get the back story for this clever fable.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh, no, I only wrote the last one! And according to Snopes.com (thanks, Elsi!), these aren't Japanese at all, but entries from a SALON contest back in 1998.

    In any case, they are delightful. Who else would like to write one?

    Angie

    ReplyDelete
  4. Click the button once
    Expecting a quick response
    ha ha ha ha ha

    ReplyDelete