Since I’ve been in Paris I’ve probably heard the phrase “Oh, là là!” a couple dozen times. Though it’s an expression I commonly used myself in America, I was charmed to find that it is actually used in French parlance. Used it is, and often! In a period of less than a week, I’ve heard it with unanticipated frequency.

What struck me at first about it was that instead of the “Ooooh, la-lah!” that I use to exclaim over something provocative, in Paris it is pronounced “OH-lala”.

Later, as I heard it used time and again in moments of distress, calamity and mishap, I stopped to wonder whether it was really the same phrase used in America. Certainly, the origins of the American phrase are French, as it conjures in the collective imagination images of French coquettishness, but something has obviously been lost in translation as not once has any of the French utterances been in regard to something risqué.

My best attempt to translate its French intended meaning is as “Oh, dear.” And a lot of that is intoned through facial expression, circumstances and the closed-mouth enunciation of the “lala”. (Weird how you can pick up on these subtleties!)

Here are some examples in which I may have heard it used in its new (for me) context:
ex. 1 When Stella was throwing a fit and literally throwing things at Julien, he said it before picking her up to contain her.
ex. 2 When Julien and Stella were playing soccer in the hallway, and Julien accidentally kicked the ball out of bounds, he said it.
ex. 3 When Sabine was parking her SUV in a too-small spot and bumped the car parked ahead of her, she said it.
ex. 4 I think Sabine has even said it to comfort Stella when she was upset.

It’s not quite an “Oh, my gosh!” or an “Oh, darn” but more of an “Uh, oh” combined with a “There, there.” Now that I’m writing about it, I’ll probably try to pin down a bit more precisely what it means when I hear it from now on.

Incidentally, I found this explanation that does a nice job of describing it. Oh là là It mentions the use of multiple “lala’s” but I am second-guessing whether I have heard this done or not.

By the way, the  featured photo is from a show at the Crazy Horse this past winter. I promise to evoke an “oooh la-lah!” with a future post, soon!