All these years of thinking that an artificial “world” language drawn from a few tongues spoken in one corner of that world was about as useful as Klingon. But it turns out I was wrong. Yakult, everyone’s favorite probiotic drink in the tiny plastic bottle, got its name from jahurto, an archaic Esperanto word meaning “yogurt.”

I am told this stuff fills your belly with helpful bacteria, and we drink it at home fairly often. Megumi is a Swallows fan, too, which helps.