New pronunciations

On my past couple of trips I have noticed a few things creeping into the French language.

Nowadays, apparently, the word oui is no longer pronounced wee. It is pronounced way-e (with a dipping then rising inflection)

Also that a lot of people are say %26quot;oplah%26quot; rather than Voila when giving you something. I thought this was a very familiar thing said between friends, but I have had it in restaurants, shops and bars.

Is there a very popular TV program causing this? (In the UK, a lot of young people have quasi-Australian inflections due to Australian soap operas). Is it laziness, falling standards of education? I%26#39;m intruiged - because I%26#39;m trying to learn French properly (not book french, but colloquial builder French. I started with Fosse Septique and have got up to amenagable)

Any Ideas? Im sure there are other examples I havent yet tuned into, but I%26#39;m sure theyre out there.

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%26quot;way-e%26quot; instead of %26quot;wee%26quot; is not polite.I cannot stand it when my daughters say %26quot;way-e%26quot;, and I have them repeat properly (I know, I can be a nazi sometimes).

Oplah is not too familiar, I think it is rather funny (and friendly).

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Any Idea where it comes from Anne? I first met way-e in Lille and assumed it was a northern/Belgian thing, but I%26#39;m hearing it everywhere. (The very first time I heard it was in a shop and the shop assistant was on the phone - all I could hear was %26quot;waaaay-e......waaay-e..... way, way, way-e%26quot; Laugh?? I tell you - very difficult to keep a straight face

Oplah makes it sound like the person has done even more of an amazing magic trick than voila does... I smile - but possibly not for the right reason. I dont think I will be trying it when I pay for my croissant tomorrow morning though.

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Way back in the late 70%26#39;ies when I was in college I think I was told that the %26quot;waye%26quot;-version of %26quot;wee%26quot; was from the south of France (Marseille) - so it%26#39;s a dialect thing, not bad language-manners ?

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For me, it is mostly due to laziness. It is a bit like %26quot;yeahhhh%26quot; instead of %26quot;yes%26quot; in english.

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I%26#39;ll do an experiment - for today and tomorrow I will %26quot;way-e%26quot; my way-e (sorry, couldnt resist that) through life. Tuesdays and Wednesday I will %26quot;wee%26quot; all day.

Should be interesting to see the response to that one ;)

I still cant do oplah though - I have trouble enough remembering voila in times of stress

Gitte

thats the reason I asked if it was a TV thing.... maybe there is a terribly trendy TV program from the provinces being shown and its just a trend. I would hate to think it is laziness - the French have RULES (written down ones!) about language, after all. The young people of today, honestly

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Hey Wiz --

The Wey-e pronunciation is very close to the pronunciation in %26quot;down river%26#39; Quebec, although is some communities it is pronounced %26quot;why%26quot;. Down River is the area on the St. Lawrence River east of Montreal - such communities as Sept Iles, Chicoutimi, etc.

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Excuse me, Wizard, but if you%26#39;re going to %26quot;wee%26quot; all day, you may have to pay a visit to the urologist since to %26quot;wee%26quot; is to %26quot;pee%26quot;. Sorry.....I couldn%26#39;t resist that.

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Shoesy

I%26#39;m glad you got that %26quot;joke%26quot; :¬) I couldnt resist making it as I typed. Immature I know - but these things happen

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OH ! So THAT%26#39;s why it%26#39;s called the wee hours of the morning........

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You outdid us, Gitte!!!!!!!!!!!!!