This is 99% invisible. I'm Roman Mars.

In 1920, a Dutch writer named Gerard Nolst Trinitay published a poem in English titled The Chaos.

Its theme, Spelling. Specifically, in English, titled The Chaos.

Its theme spelling, specifically English spelling and pronunciation,

and all the chaos it has let loose upon the world.

It begins.

Dearest Creature in creation, studying English pronunciation.

I will teach you in my verse sounds like corpse, core, horse, and worse.

I will make you, Susie, busy. Make your head with heat grow dizzy. Just compare

heart, hear, and heard, dies and diet, lord and word. And that's just the opening lines. The full poem goes on for another 66

stances. Trinite designed the poem as a pronunciation exercise, a catchy jingle to help students of

English learn what he called the language is, quote,

phonetic paradoxes, but still he couldn't help it end the poem on a note of despair.

Which rhymes with enough, though, through, plow, cough, hoof, or tough, hiccup as the sound of sup. My advice is, give it up.

The absurdity of this poem works because let's face it. Give it up.

The absurdity of this poem works because let's face it, when it comes to English spelling

and pronunciation, there is plenty of rhyme and very little reason.

But what is the reason for that? Why among all European

languages is English so uniquely chaotic today? To help us answer that question,

we're talking to linguist and longtime front of the show

Erica Okerent, author of the new book, Highly Irregular.

Why Tough Through and Doe Don't Rhyme and other oddities of the English

...