Idea for October 2024: remue-ménage

My idea of the month is remue-ménage. A friend introduced me to this lovely phrase last week. Literally, it means ‘stirred household’ – moving all the furniture around. But metaphorically it’s hustle and bustle, fuss, agitation. Maybe the closest English word is commotion. My friend sees it, I think, as a moment of exciting possibility – like ‘everything’s up in the air’. A useful moment in creating change in an organisation or in a brand.

It’s one of many French phrases that stay with me because they’re so French, so untranslatable, and conjure up a whole way of living. Like mauvais quart d’heure (an awkward but brief social incident) or (my favourite) l’esprit de l’escalier (thinking of the perfect riposte too late, when you’ve left the party and you’re on the stairs down).

Remue-ménage is also a theatre/puppet/circus company, whose work looks amazing.