The Arizona Department of Transportation Experiments with Haiku
Earlier this week, the Arizona Department of Transportation took a page from the Whimsical Ideas Book of a wide-eyed substitute teacher and announced a "Twitter challenge," asking people to submit haikus to help promote dust storm safety.
The move is part of the department's new "Pull Aside Stay Alive" dust storm awareness campaign, of which the number one tip appears to be "Do not intentionally drive into a giant cloud of dust, you morons."
The best part of this challenge is not the prize, because there does not appear to be a prize.
No, the best part is that the word they've chosen to describe these dust storms (via haiku) is "haboob," a real term, derived from Arabic, originally coined to refer to the violent sandstorms that plague war-torn Sudan.
They're asking people to submit tips about haBOOBS is what I'm saying.
Here's mine:
hubba hubba boobs
be careful in a dust storm
don't drive, you morons
Here's one from the department blog:
Dust storms mean danger
Zero visibility
Pull over and wait
Obviously theirs is boring and only very barely a poem. Write a better one (remember: 5 / 7 / 5) and tweet it to @ArizonaDOT immediately, hashtagged #haboobhaiku .
If it's good (even if it's just okay, probably), they'll retweet it to their over 14,000 Twitter followers and you will be famous.
The challenge ends Friday.
After that, we shall all be forbidden from using the term "haboob" ever again.
Enjoy your haboob rumspringa.
