Birdcall in the spring—
squeaky
wheels
A humorous haiku. In his commentary, the literary critic Henry Ford brings to our attention an old saying: the squeaky wheel gets the grease. The Chinese has a similar saying "会哭的孩子有奶吃", which means "The crying baby gets the milk.” The Japanese are however more self-effacing, or conformist, depending on your view. The saying "The nail that stands out gets pounded down" (出る釘は打たれる, deru kugi wa utareru) is still widely used. The Koreans agree: The pointy stone gets the chisel ("모난 돌이 정 맞는다). A rare instance of agreement between the Japanese and the Koreans.