> You appear to be operating under the impression that the every syllable of a rhyming couplet has to rhyme exactly for it to be considered a rhyme

I'm not operating under that impression, but the author is [1].

To me, the final "sounds" should match - not every syllable, an end rhyme according to wiki [0]. Specifically I would consider a rhyme to require matching sounds "at least from last vowel to end", but I don't think of rhymes first from the strict definition. Perhaps it's an accent thing but "-us" in cactus is not the same sound as "-ice" in practice. If a child made a poem with these sounds I would tell them "good job, it's a rhyme", and perhaps for the purpose of a silly word game too. But I would not use it as a passing case for a test of any sort like the author.

What's more pleasing is irrelevant, what is relevant is if its a true rhyme.

[0] https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/end_rhyme#English

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/reply?id=35258385&goto=item%3Fi...