Charivarius

Gerard Nolst Trenité (Dutch: [ɣeːrɑrt nɔlst treːniteː]; 20 July 1870 – 9 October 1946), publishing under the pseudonym Charivarius, was a Dutch writer, teacher, and observer of the English language.

Nolst Trenité is best known in the English-speaking world for his poem The Chaos, which demonstrates many of the idiosyncrasies of English spelling and first appeared as an appendix to his 1920 textbook Drop Your Foreign Accent: engelsche uitspraakoefeningen. The subtitle of the book means "English pronunciation exercises".

Weakened from war and famine, Nolst Trenité died a year after the Liberation at the age of 76.

Education

Nolst Trenité was the son of a Utrecht minister. After grammar school, he studied classical literature, law and political science at the University of Utrecht from 1890 to 1894, but did not complete any of these courses. Adventurous, he embarked on a self-promised trip around the world in 1894, which ended prematurely in San Francisco, where he became a home tutor for the children of the Dutch consul. Two years later he was back in the Netherlands and resumed his studies in political science, at the same time preparing for the qualification to teach English at secondary level; he obtained the relevant certificate in 1898. In 1901 he obtained his doctorate in political science at the University of Utrecht.

Teacher

From 1900 to 1918, Trenité was, as he preferred to call himself, a teacher of English and civil engineering at a secondary school in Haarlem. His school books, The Nutshell. Shortest English grammar (1906), First Pictorial word book (1908) and Drop your foreign accent. Vocal gymnastics (1909), date from that period. His poem The Chaos, included in later editions of the latter book, intended as a practice material for English words Dutch speakers found difficult to pronounce, also became popular outside the Netherlands. It is known in England among the few who seek a spelling reform. In the field of constitutional law, he wrote The Constitution (1912).