Y: Yakult

"the ~ (m) Milk drink for a healthy intestinal flora" (very roughly translated, my brain isn't really working).

WHY is this in the dictionary? It's a brand name. You don't find 'pepsi' or 'fanta' in the dictionary.

Yakult is apparently Japanese. It's a milk beverage containing probiotics, that's supposed to help improve your intestinal workings so that you don't feel bloated.

I still wonder, though. The fact that the brand name is representing the drink in my Dutch dictionary tells me that there is not really anything else like it. Probably, then, the drink was immediately heavily patented when it was first produced in 1935. On the other hand, I don't know how this works for the rest of the world, but in the Netherlands the patent rights are only applicable for 20 years. So I guess that still doesn't explain it?
I asked my parents and grandparents, who are all conveniently downstairs right now, but the best they came up with is that somebody may have gotten some money for that little trick. (Putting it in the dictionary, that is :'D).Also apparently there ARE non-'official' products like it. The plot thickens...

Any of you got an idea? :').


~Levyathan

X: Xylofoon

Which is, unsurprisingly, a xylophone. Basically it's the first word anyone thinks of when trying to name a word starting with an x. For those of you who don't know the instrument, it's a sort of frame on which are mounted wooden slabs or bars which, when struck with a mallet, produce musical notes. It has a distinct sort of chiming sound.

It's a pretty common kiddies' instrument because it's not very hard to make it produce sound and it's not that easily broken. For children they generally come in all kinds of colors.

W: Wensput

A wishing well. Basically it's a type of well often found in stories. People are desperate in some way and they say their wish out loud while near it and POOF. The wish comes true and they live happily ever after, yadda yadda yadda.

I don't really think there's anyone out there who actually believes in these things, yet it has become common practice to throw a penny into any well or fountain we pass because it might make our dreams come true. What weird idea spawned that, anyway? Why do humans follow the particular superstition that throwing a coin into a man-made body of water might help them become successful in life? What kind of weird people are we to believe that?

Probably it's just the same thing as with most superstitions: we want to believe it, and so we do it to make ourselves feel better. Little harm in that.


~Levyathan

V: Vuurwerk

Because I like fireworks and they're pretty. I used to always light fireworks on new year's eve, ever since my parents allowed me. Before that I just got these kiddies' packages with confetti guns and such. 

Lately, though (the last two years, give or take), I don't really see the need to light fireworks anymore. Anyway, I'm talking about the small fry variety here, rather than the really pretty and colorful exploding rockets and such - they're way too expensive. 

It's just, I don't see the need to throw 200 firecrackers in a single evening (why do they even package them in such crazy quantities, anyway? >,>), nor can I find much enjoyment in standing around in the cold all night long. 

I still love the moment of midnight, though, when the entire sky lights up in color and it's hard to talk because of all the bangs. It just carries this irrevocable connotation of the start of a new year, end of the old one, now GO FORTH AND HUG AND KISS YOUR FAMILY and think about all the things you would ideally change about yourself or your surroundings (which you're never going to actually do anyway) and BE GLAD YOU LIVE TO SEE THIS HAPPY MOMENT. Or something equally dramatic. 

This thing here just did an about-face from fireworks to NYE. Oh well. It's the most obvious association, anyway. 

(I love that expression. About-face. Heh. :'D).

~Levyathan

U: Uurwerk

Literally translated to 'hour work', but it means about the same as clockwork. I love clockwork in all its steampunk-y glory. If you frequent places like deviantart, you've probably come across awesome steampunk timepieces and necklaces and whatnot. I adore clockwork. It gives off a kind of old-time shadiness that mystifies as well as attracts.

It also usually serves to remind me of the ingenuity of man. Someone, at some point in time, figured out that the best way to get a mechanical signal across a space was to fill said space with interlocking cogs and gears. What's most intriguing about that is that this very same deceptively simple method still has its proper place in the contemporary world. We still make mechanical clocks. We may not use them exclusively anymore, but they're still there. Maybe that has something to do with the strange, overly romanticized view I have on such rudimentary mechanisms. It's like a tangible piece of the past.

On the other hand, maybe not.


~Levyathan

T: Tegeltjeswijsheid

Wisdom from a tile. I'm not sure whether that's actually a thing anywhere else than the Netherlands, but maybe we're just weird like that. :'D. Basically, it refers to the kind of inspirational quotes that can often be found on decorative tiles hanging - incidentally - mostly in bathrooms.

Whatever can be found on there, it's generally a cliché. Think the kind of proverbs and sayings that are embarrasing to actually utter because people will just start looking at you like "Really? x'D. Dude, no one actually SAYS that!"

For some reason, though, they become acceptable when put on a tile. Don't ask, I don't even know.

..Although it's still a matter of taste, of course. You'll never ever (or maybe I shouldn't say that too soon but still) find one in my house.

I'm just not that into clichés. :'D.


~Levyathan.

S: Sinterklaas

There is no actual English equivalent for this. It's a Dutch holiday, on December 5th, in which we celebrate the fact that a 300 year old man with a huge beard in a dress riding a white horse across rooftops and having black, curly-haired helpers puts presents in our shoes. 

That's what he looks like, along with his helpers, the 'Black Petes'. 

It's not quite as strange as it sounds, though. 

Or, well, you only really realize how strange it is when you try to explain it to someone who doesn't know about it. 

Basically, in the couple of days before December the 5th, you put your empty shoe in front of the fireplace if you've got one, or anywhere really, and you sing appropriate songs. Then you go to bed, and when you return to your shoe in the morning, there's a present in there for you. Then on the Big Day itself, even more presents are given! It's a kid's dream. 

People say Sinterklaas - or, properly, Saint Nicholas - is actually the original Santa Clause. Most Dutch children do not believe in Santa Clause, although we do celebrate Christmas with presents. I guess we just get doubly lucky.