Tontoism

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Tontoism - Tonto

There is a fine line between expressing it short and making a grammatical mistake.
Especially for non-native speakers of English, who have a mother tongue that does not use A or THE, the use or not-use of these particles is rather difficult to guess.

Our Japanese friends, when translating their haiku to English, sometimes end up with rather "cute" versions,
not on purpose but out of not knowing better.



The Lone Ranger and Tonto


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Paul O. Williams (born 1935)
is an American science fiction writer and haiku poet.

His most notable science fiction works are a series of novels set in North America about a thousand years after a "time of fire", in which the world was nearly totally depopulated. He won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in Science Fiction in 1983.

He is also known as a writer of haiku, senryu, and tanka, and has written a number of essays on the haiku form in English. In a 1975 essay, he coined the word "Tontoism" to refer to haiku with missing articles ("the", "a", or "an"), making the haiku sound like the stunted English of the Indian sidekick, Tonto, in the Lone Ranger radio and television series.

Paul O. Williams has been the president of the Haiku Society of America (1999) and vice president of the Tanka Society of America (2000).
© WIKIPEDIA

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The Nick of Time:
Essays on Haiku Aesthetics by Paul O. Williams

Some of the essays coined haiku terms that are still in use today, though few poets are aware of the source. The prime example of this would be “tontoism”, which is an accusation frequently flung about without realizing the source is a 1975 essay by Mr. Williams.

"Tontoism" is a term for haiku where, either for the sake of syllable count, or in an attempt at greater sparcity, the poet has chosen to leave out words that would normally be considered essential to a proper wielding of the English language.

Read the full article review here :
© Haikuworld

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While there definitely doesn't have to be complete sentences, you also don't want to cut out words that are needed to make the sentence flow. They call this "Tontoism" in haiku (like Tonto and the Lone Ranger).

horse scare
bad storm come
shelter

- tonto the haiku poet


Read the full article with useful advise on writing haiku here :
© Haikuworld


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Tonto is a fictional character,
the American Indian companion of The Lone Ranger, a popular American Western character created by George W. Trendle and Fran Striker. Tonto has appeared in radio and television series and other presentations of the characters' adventures righting wrongs in 19th century western America.
©　More in the WIKIPEDIA !


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An Analysis of Haiku in 12-dimensional Space.
Charles Trumbull

Proposition 7b. Haiku must use language to the fullest

The other side would argue that language is what poetry is all about. Language must be used to the fullest extent possible for the adequate articulation of the nuances of a haiku moment. Arguing for simplicity of language, or even brevity per se, is the equivalent of calling for the use of baby-language in haiku, and could even lead to the cardinal sin of
Tontoism (omitting articles, etc., for the sake of brevity).

For the very reason that a haiku is so short, each word in the poem must do extra duty. We should not use “creature” if it is a bird; we shouldn’t write “bird” if “woodpecker” is needed; we might prefer to be even more specific:

Logging road —
.....the pileated woodpecker
..........flings its cry ahead

Carol A. Purington
Frogpond 19:2 (September 1996), 19

Read the full article with useful advise on writing haiku here :
© Simply Haiku

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The Lone Ranger and Tonto went camping in the desert. After they got their tent all set up, they fell sound asleep. Some hours later, the Lone Ranger wakes his faithful friend and says,

"Tonto, look up at the sky and tell me what you see.

Tonto replies, "Me see millions of stars."

What does that tell you?" asked The Lone Ranger.

Tonto ponders for a minute, then says,
"Astronomically speaking, it tells me that there are millions of galaxies and potentially billions of planets.
Astrologically, it tells me that Saturn is in Leo.
Time wise, it appears to be approximately a quarter past three in the morning.
Theologically, it's evident the Lord is all- powerful and we are small and insignificant.
Meteorologically, it seems we will have a beautiful day tomorrow.

What it tell you, Kemo Sabi?"

source : www.coderanch.com


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spring moon -
the whiteness
of a few clouds


If you are not sure about your English, join me here

TRANSLATING HAIKU FORUM !

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Tonto
tiptoeing
toward ?

me see
millions
of haiku


A group called "Mijikai Haiku" (Short Haiku) on facebook:
source : www.facebook.com/groups


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