Marilyn Monroe-lookalikes verbreken record in Florida

What does “spreekt tot de verbeelding” mean in Dutch?

Spreekt tot de verbeelding is a fixed Dutch phrase meaning something grips people’s imagination and won’t let go — the way a legend, a spectacle, or a great story takes hold of the public. Literally it means “speaks to the imagination,” but in use it’s closer to English “captures the imagination” or “fires people’s minds.” It appears in news, essays, and everyday speech alike, always carrying that sense of enduring, almost magnetic fascination.

The verb phrase is tot de verbeelding spreken — the subject “speaks to” (spreken tot) the imagination (de verbeelding). Verbeelding on its own means imagination or visualization; the set phrase locks it into a specific, slightly elevated register. You’ll hear it for icons, historical events, and anything that keeps people talking long after the fact. In the clip, the narrator says Marilyn Monroe “spreekt nog altijd tot de verbeelding” — still speaks to the imagination — as over a thousand lookalikes gather in Florida to mark what would have been her hundredth birthday. The phrase does double work: it describes Monroe’s immortal pull and shows exactly how the idiom functions in live Dutch news commentary.