The French for Fun is Plan
This whimsical piece came out of a shared writing practice with my old Friend Liu Yan. More coming soon, as we now reflect on romantic comedies as a potential source of insights for innovation.
1
In gay slang, fun means sex. It’s what most people look for on Grindr and Scruff. French uses the word ‘plan’. More specifically, we talk about ‘un plan cul’ – literally ‘an ass plan’ – generally shortened to ‘plan’. The word refers both to the act itself – ‘I’m meeting this guy for a plan’ – and metonymically to the person – ‘This guy is my plan at the moment’.
2
I once had a fight with a colleague. I was invited to facilitate a workshop. It had to be fun. ‘We’ll give you all the help you need’, said my manager at the time, ‘ask our EA’. I asked her to come early, so she could make sure the tech worked. She wouldn’t. ‘If there’s a problem, we fix it, as a team’. On the day, the tech didn’t work, and the EA was late. Our business manager was a planner. She found the whole thing not fun.
3
Allegedly, Carla Bruni – the wife of former president Nicolas Sarkozy – shared a First Couple story with Michelle Obama. They once had a sneaky session before meeting Queen Elizabeth. ‘His schedule is tight, so we have to plan for fun’. They made the Queen wait that day. ‘Did that ever happen to you, Michelle?’
4
Bros is a recent New York gay romcom. Fifteen minutes into the movie, we see Bobby, the protagonist, getting on Grindr for fun. On the other side of the app, the guy asks him for an ass pic. Which he doesn’t have. He goes through to the bathroom, takes out a razor, tweaks around for the best angle, then sends off the pic – only to get blocked. Organising fun is a somewhat tedious affair. Hence the appeal of a plan.
5
In 2019, I went through spiritual exercises. As I prayed on the scene of the Feast in Cana, I had a fresh insight. At the end of the night, pressed by his mother, Jesus turns water into wine. This first miracle happens unplanned – ‘my hour is not yet come’, he says, ‘what are you to me, woman?’ The words of a drunken man, about to do something silly. Yet he does it. All the rest, then, up until the resurrection, is nothing but the result of a boozy night. The true depiction of an architect God embodied. The plan for human salvation, twisted in a night of fun.