Day 69 - Ooh La La

Ahhh…It is that time again…time for us to pack up, clean up, and get ready for the next stop in our big adventure.  Since we spent the entire morning doing “unexotic” things, such as vacuuming, dusting, and packing, I thought I will dedicate this post to 2 interesting things we learned in France, regarding the usage of phrases.

French 101 with We Chase Summer

Until we arrived here and listened to people’s conversation, we had a different understanding of what phrases could be used when, mainly because of what we had learned from school.  Think of it as theoretical vs. practical.

S’il Vous Plait vs. Pardon/Excuse Moi

I was always under the impression that s’il vous plait means please and it should be used when you want to politely ask for something (just like how please is used in the English language). It turns out the French also use s’il vous plait for getting attention when they want to ask for something.  Instead of saying, excuse me or pardon me, they say please.  In fact I tried a few times to get someone’s attention by saying pardon and they either just walked by or looked at me funny, as in what is she apologizing for?

Ooh La La!

Ok this surprised me the most. I have always used the phrase Ooh La La to indicate the fanciness of something.  For example, when someone put on a gorgeous dress or arrived in high fashion, I would likely say, ooh la la.  OR when I made a grand bowl of ice cream for myself with whip cream, I would say, ooh la la, before devouring it :)  Well, it turns out, that is not how the French use this phrase (I mean it is possible that they still may use it in these occasions too, but I cannot give you an example of it).  The first time I heard the phrase used was in a restaurant, when two waiters bumped into each other, as they were rushing around, and this caused a bottle to fall off a tray and break.  "Ooooh la la!", exclaimed one of the waiters.  I heard it used again on a playground, where a much older kids bumped into a younger kids and caused the younger child to fall over very hard.  "Oooh lala", I heard a few mothers say as the kid screamed and his parents reprimanded the older girl.  And finally, I heard it one last time, on a playground again, when a soccer ball flew over and hit a lady sitting on the bench, "Oooh la la", she said with distaste. 

So there you have it. The next time you are in France, you can use these phrases like a local! 

Turbo

Since Kian has been all about Turbo lately, we decided to watch the movie for our last family date night in France.  What a cute movie.  You should watch it if you haven't :)