By "drank," I mean the Dutch word, not the drug reference!
In Belgium, we saw the "nachtwinkel," or the night shop. Belgian shopkeepers value the importance of being able to meet customers' needs even outside of traditional store hours (Germany, I'm staring at you), so there are nachtwinkels (not sure how to make that plural auf...Flemish?).
I love that they sell "drank." That just means beverages. However, it makes me think of some convenience stores in the US. **Okay, keep in mind that the following is what things used to be called - but these things have been co-opted to mean something else now.** Cheap convenience stores in the US would sell something called "drink." Its flavors are actually labeled by what color the drink is. So, the drink that is purple is called "purple drink," the red one is called "red drink," and so on. People don't even try to call purple drink grape flavored because it didn't taste anything like grapes; after all, why would something so fake and full of food dyes and high fructose corn syrup taste "natural?" I remember seeing some of these drinks when I was a teen and they were in these opaque plastic bottles shaped like little barrels. I thought that "blue drink" looked like windshield washing fluid for cars.
**Some of these terms now are used to refer to an illegal combination of over the counter medications, alcohol, etc. I'm not sure if anyone calls the highly artificial beverages by the previous name of "drink" or "drank," without a drug connotation.**
Despite that, I grinned a little bit when I saw the nachtwinkel with "drank." I wondered if they had any drinks named after what color they are.
Oh! And here's a Michigan moment: we actually do still have a drink named after its color and there isn't a drug connotation with it: Red Pop! Faygo, a Detroit pop company, makes it. Of course it's full of dyes and whatnot, but it is nice to have once in a while. It's supposed to be strawberry flavored, but I wouldn't say it's quite full-on strawberry. What does it taste like? It tastes like red. There you go.
"Belgian shopkeepers value the importance of being able to meet customers' needs even outside of traditional store hours (Germany, I'm staring at you)"
ReplyDeleteWell I am not sure what exactly Voeding is, but you can get tabak and beverages at every Tankstelle.
I know, but I want to be able to buy grapes, La Vache Quirit, and fresh bakery bread after say, 10:00 pm, or 08:00 (this is what the automatic SPAR offered). I'm just trying to get over being spoiled by stores where I was from; a person could buy a parakeet at 0200 if she wanted, or some clothes, or whatever at the all purpose store.
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