Oui ou Vrai?

[Sir Wood]

Okay, so in a lot of the interviews, I hear what sounds to be "way" out of Lili and JC. So, are they saying oui or vrai, or are they saying some other slang for "yeah"? Perhaps it's both, but my foreign ears cannot readily destinguish the difference. Thanks!

BTW, I now know that it means hello but what's the etymology for "coucou" another slang like "toc de mac" (terrific)?

[Deepwaters]

My best guess as to what sounds like "way" would be "ouai," which is best translated as "yeah."

[espire]

Deepwaters is correct. It's not formal at all, but one usually says "ouais" rather than "oui." In Quebec, everybody does this.

[Cooney]

Ouais having already been covered, I'll take a shot at coucou.

Coucou literally is "Cuckoo" like a cuckoo clock (pendule a coucou). If I had to guess, I'd say we're looking at a derivation from the cuckoo bird popping out to say hello, crying "coucou !" when it chimes. It's much much much more widely used than Toc de Mac, which apparently was extremely regional to Corsica, and possibly to Ajaccio itself, and is literally translatable as "imitation of a pimp." AC, Bigdan, or one of our other French members may be able to correct these suggestions.

[Sir Wood]

So, it's the marrying of oui + vrai. Thank you guys on all accounts. I guess I'm not so cuckoo after all (well, may be just a little).

Originally Posted by Cooney

Ouais having already been covered, I'll take a shot at coucou.

Coucou literally is "Cuckoo" like a cuckoo clock (pendule a coucou). If I had to guess, I'd say we're looking at a derivation from the cuckoo bird popping out to say hello, crying "coucou !" when it chimes. It's much much much more widely used than Toc de Mac, which apparently was extremely regional to Corsica, and possibly to Ajaccio itself, and is literally translatable as "imitation of a pimp." AC, Bigdan, or one of our other French members may be able to correct these suggestions.

Interesting. At first I was wondering why they kept on calling each other "crazy" and thought that they must have been awefully good friends until I dug deeper into finding out what they were actually saying. As for the latter, toc de mac, it's pretty much French slang for "that's pimp" than. Thanks.

[espire]

Originally Posted by Sir Wood

So, it's the marrying of oui + vrai.

No, not really, actually. It's simply what happens if you put less effort into saying oui, sort of leaning a tiny bit towards a grunt. This is likely why it's so commonly used in Quebec, because Quebec French is much less proper and less dignified.

[Sir Wood]

Huh, a Canadian who admits to being lazy (I'm teasing). Thanks for the schooling.