Rits

zipper, series, row, collection, bunch
[noun]
[de rits, de rit-sen]

You can turn "rits" into a verb by adding -en. The verb "ritsen" translates to "to zip (up)" or can be used for merging lanes, see Extra below.

Examples:
– "Spijkerbroeken hebben nu vaak knoopjes in plaats van een rits."
("Nowadays, jeans often have buttons instead of a zipper.")

– "Je rits staat open!"
("Your zipper is open!")

– "In de wachtkamer lag een hele rits tijdschriften op tafel."
("In the waiting room, a whole bunch of magazines was lying on the table.)

Extra:
In the Netherlands, the verb "ritsen" has also become known in the context of cars joining traffic on a motorway lane, especially when four lanes become three, or three lanes become two. The government even shows tv commercials on how the "ritsen" should be performed, that is: one a time!

Writer’s note:
The Dutch are known to be tolerant people. This is only superficially true. The Dutch are essentially arrogant and selfish on the motorway at the point where "ritsen" takes place. Maybe this is a way to blow off some steam after all the tolerance 🙂

A Dutch driver’s motto is "traffic is war" but of course this is still nothing compared to other countries 😉