So “Oo la la” has become the quintessential French exclamation, according to movies, commercials, etc. My problem is, I don’t see how anybody, in any language, could adopt such a stunningly stupid collection of syllables into their own vocabulary and use it in their everyday language.
Did the French ever actually say “Oo la la”?
yes
And, moreover, they still do.
Okily-dokily, *Jpeg Jonesarino.
And for that matter, do they eat Boboli in Italy?
Alright, then. Followup question:
Exactly how is it generally used?
Does it mean “Wow, that’s a great looking frog you’ve got there, Pierre!”?
As mentioned by others, yes, it is still used.
I do not see what is so stupid about the phrase. It is like the American “Wow!” I have also heard, “Ooh la la la la la la!”
Only when they are awake
It think it means something like “Oh wonderful!”. It doesn’t sound as silly in French as in English.
Actually, it’s more like “O la la,” at least when I’ve heard it. It’s sort of “wow”-like, I guess; it’s used to express one’s reaction to something really great: the taste of chocolate, the dreamy new boy at school, the girl you ogled at the beach, etc.
I hear it every day (nearly), so yes it is used, at least in Montreal. This morning, in fact, a man stopped me on the street and told me (in French, like the rest of the conversation) he sees me walking regularly. When I told him that I was walking four miles to my office downown, he exclaimed, “O la la”. So “wow” might be a reasonable translation, or “can you believe that” or even, in context, “how terrible!”.
I was working on a rescue squad some years back, and we were called to a one-car crash. The driver (a French-Canadian) had a fractured femur, an extremely painful injury. While applying a traction splint to the injury, a certain amount of movement is unavoidable, and each time, he would cry out “O la la la la la”. This was the first time I had heard the expression used in the real world.
So, yes, it is indeed used.
Well, Jingle-Jangle Jumblepants!!
Also, as used by Francophones, it doesn’t sound at all stupid. I’m guessing that you’re being influenced by the stupid dialogue generally given to French characters in American TV shows.
I’ve heard native French speakers (in France) use it - as Nametag says, it’s more “O la la” than “Ooh”, and if you had to translate it, “wow” would be as good as anything; all-purpose interjection, comes in handy sometimes.
It can be used in a way other than to say “Wow”. When I was in Paris I was on the metro and some woman was ticked off that people were pushing and shoving past her to get on while she was trying to get off and she said “O la la les gens!!!”. Pretty much “Geez you people!”.
I was amused to find that yes, French people definitely do say it.
>>I’m guessing that you’re being influenced by the stupid dialogue generally given to French characters in American TV shows.<<
Contrasted to the stupid dialog generally given to everyone else on American TV?
Well gcarroll, I take your point, but a lot of TV characters aren’t supposed to be saying something stupid. Is that ever the case for a French character?
I’ve heard it in a few of the type of jawdropping situations where an American might say “Oh my Gaaaaaad”* - perhaps when witnessing an accident firsthand or something like that - where one is watching a situation unfold, but is powerless to intervene.
*An Englishman, of course, would say “Goodness gracious!”
Or as my Suffolk grandmother used to say - “Well I’ll be jiggered!”… I dread to think what it actually meant. 
Julie
Nom d’un chien!