Ah so.
So French people do totally say Ooh la la. But they don’t just say it in that saucy French maid way you’d expect. The other day on our street there was a car stuck behind a delivery van, and the car driver lost his cool and started to honk obnoxiously for about a minute. The swarthy fellow in the van leaned out and replied, conversationally: ooh la la la. At a café a while back a waiter brought an order to the table next to me, and the patrons, a gaggle of ladies, vociferously disagreed with what he’d delivered. He stood there for a second and then turned on his heel, muttering as he walked away ooh la la la la la lalalalala! And just today I walked past a man standing in a door way, saying to himself, despondently, oh la la la, in completely flat tones.
I am perpetually delighted to hear my friends, boss, colleagues, and other Frenchies use ooh la la la laaa. I think that the construction with four las is my favorite, but really, you could get up to ten in there, and it would only be more fabulous. And yes, Czupa Cakis, the number of meanings rivals that of even putain or énorme. Hearing “ooh la la” used as an expression of delight is amazing (as is, for instance, seeing Parisians toting baguettes on the way to work), but hearing it used as nearly a curse word is even more delightful.
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