MonoMonday: Mélange

"Mélange" - "mixture, medley, blend, variety, mixed bag, mix, miscellany, diversity, collection, selection, assortment, assemblage, combination...etc etc."

This is definitely a mixture/medley/miscellany of road furniture, cones, signs, barriers etc. (For locals: The roadworks at South Gosforth mini roundabouts during the waterproofing of the bridge over the Ouseburn, which I walked past today.)

I looked up the derivation of the word mélange - it's quite interesting:

"Mélange got mixed into the melting pot of English back in the 1600s. It derives from the Middle French verb mesler, which means "to mix." "Mélange" is actually one of several French contributions to the English body of words for miscellaneous mixtures. "Pastiche" (meaning "a composition made up of selections of different works," or broadly, "a disorderly mixture, hodgepodge") is borrowed from French, and "medley" and "potpourri" have roots in French, too. There's also the lesser known "gallimaufry" (meaning "hodgepodge"), which comes from the Middle French galimafree (meaning "stew")."  (Merriam-Webster Dictionary.)

Many thanks again to 60plus for hosting MM this month.