use strict; my @haiku = ( [ 'annoying sensei', 'oh, young grasshopper', 'dis-honourable', 'you aburi brain' ], [ 'learn to run before you walk', 'he thinks he knows everything', 'insubordinate pupil', ], [ 'hey, wait a minute', 'he must be senile', 'he will face my wrath', 'his brain is not well' ], ); for my $line (0..2) { print $haiku[$line][rand @{$haiku[$line]}], "\n"; }