# Walla walla walla!
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/walla-walla-walla/545365
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [July 2, 2010, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/walla-walla-walla/545365 "2010-07-02T23:41:08Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Absolute](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Absolute)
#### Post date: [July 2, 2010, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/walla-walla-walla/545365/1 "2010-07-02T23:41:08Z")
Lately, I’ve been reading a lot of internet forums of… lesser quality… than the SDMB. Normally I am not prone to being picky about spelling and grammar, but I have to say, whenever I read something like this:
> [@Some Moron](#):
>
> I removed the cape, and walla! There was a rodent underneath!
I immediately and permanently conclude the author is an illiterate, inbred, uneducated moron.
The word is voilà.
Now, I understand things like to vs. too, loose vs. lose, your vs. you’re, and similar minor errors that can trip people up. If you’re in a hurry, or just don’t pay attention to details, mistakes like that are perfectly understandable, and not worth getting excited over.
But “walla” - using that spelling implies that, in your entire life, you haven’t read enough written material (or enough written material of sufficient quality) to learn how the word is actually spelled. A “w” instead of a “v”? That’s not a fucking typo. Well, maybe if someone typed “woila”, I could understand that they just forgot how to spell it. But “walla”? What the fuck is that? What happened, did you not make it all the way through the first hooked-on-phonics DVD?
The same goes for “ludacrist”, which implies your highest level of reading achievement is being able to select the correct CD of shitty rap from your local music store.
The most annoying thing about seeing things like this is the implication that there must actually be people who go around _pronouncing_ the words like that. Saying “walla” instead of “vwah-la”, or actually saying “lew-da-crist”.
- yeah, yeah, English isn’t everyone’s first language, blah blah blah…
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### Author:  [@BorgHunter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BorgHunter)
#### Post date: [July 2, 2010, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/walla-walla-walla/545365/2 "2010-07-02T23:51:01Z")
If you really want to read some of the intellectual dregs, try perusing the comments section at the bottom of your local newspaper’s articles. Some of them make “how is babby formed” look lucid and insightful.
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### Author:  [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)
#### Post date: [July 3, 2010, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/walla-walla-walla/545365/3 "2010-07-03T00:03:38Z")
_Every summer we go away to Baden Baden Baden
Every winter we come back home to Walla Walla Walla_
[“Triplets”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EOWMfI90Do) - Arthur Schwartz & The Tunetwisters (1937)
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### Author:  [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)
#### Post date: [July 3, 2010, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/walla-walla-walla/545365/4 "2010-07-03T00:06:38Z")
Viola Viola, Washington.
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### Author:  [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)
#### Post date: [July 3, 2010, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/walla-walla-walla/545365/5 "2010-07-03T00:15:46Z")
I had a friend who used to say “viola!” instead of “voila!” but he was doing it to be a smartass.
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### Author:  [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)
#### Post date: [July 3, 2010, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/walla-walla-walla/545365/6 "2010-07-03T00:30:43Z")
> [@BorgHunter](#):
>
> Some of them make “how is babby formed” look lucid and insightful.
[Funny you should mention that…](http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090401230725AAafBYZ).
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### Author:  [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)
#### Post date: [July 3, 2010, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/walla-walla-walla/545365/7 "2010-07-03T01:23:23Z")
> [@Squink](#):
>
> Viola Viola, Washington.
And the Viola Viola onions are quite good too.
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### Author:  [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)
#### Post date: [July 3, 2010, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/walla-walla-walla/545365/8 "2010-07-03T01:50:18Z")
> [@ghardester](#):
>
> And the Viola Viola onions are quite good too.
“Then, instead of expensive mouthwash, he had breathed on Hogg-Enderby, bafflingly (for no banquet would serve, because of the known redolence of onions, onions) onions.”
(Anthony Burgess, _Enderby Outside_)
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### Author:  [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)
#### Post date: [July 3, 2010, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/walla-walla-walla/545365/9 "2010-07-03T02:02:36Z")
[Walla Walla Walla Wallas](http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Walla_Walla_Walla_Wallas)
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### Author:  [@Rune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rune)
#### Post date: [July 3, 2010, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/walla-walla-walla/545365/10 "2010-07-03T05:04:23Z")
> [@Absolute](#):
>
> I immediately and permanently conclude the author is an illiterate, inbred, uneducated
Is that supposed to be bad?
Anyway I’m thinking they may well be changing the words on purpose. Just playing around with the language a little.
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### Author:  [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)
#### Post date: [July 3, 2010, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/walla-walla-walla/545365/11 "2010-07-03T06:56:52Z")
“Walla” is also a Middle-Eastern (or maybe just Israeli) word that can’t really be translated to English, but is used in the somewhat surprised confirmation of the receipt of information. As in:
“So it’s spelled ‘voilà’? Walla.”
(Possible English translations include, but are not limited to: “gotcha”, “really?” and “no shit”)
Note: does NOT mean the same thing as “yalla”.
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### Author:  [@Rune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rune)
#### Post date: [July 3, 2010, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/walla-walla-walla/545365/12 "2010-07-03T07:44:16Z")
> [@Alessan](#):
>
> “Walla” is also a Middle-Eastern (or maybe just Israeli) word that can’t really be translated to English, but is used in the somewhat surprised confirmation of the receipt of information. As in:
>
> “So it’s spelled ‘voilà’? Walla.”
>
> (Possible English translations include, but are not limited to: “gotcha”, “really?” and “no shit”)
>
> Note: does NOT mean the same thing as “yalla”.
Yes. That’s what I was thinking. It’s used here all the time.
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### Author:  [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)
#### Post date: [July 3, 2010, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/walla-walla-walla/545365/13 "2010-07-03T07:54:07Z")
Some people don’t pronounce the v. It is very soft, and tends to blend with the [w] sound to many English speakers’ ears. This is a quite normal phenomenon called [lenition](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenition).
Alessan: But is it pronounced with an accent on the first or second syllable? Voila has it at the end.
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### Author:  [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)
#### Post date: [July 3, 2010, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/walla-walla-walla/545365/14 "2010-07-03T08:04:58Z")
The accent is on the furst syllable, leading to confusion in writing, but not in speech.
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### Author:  [@Fake\_Tales\_of\_San\_Francisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fake_Tales_of_San_Francisco)
#### Post date: [July 3, 2010, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/walla-walla-walla/545365/15 "2010-07-03T08:57:39Z")
> [@Absolute](#):
>
> The same goes for “ludacrist”, which implies your highest level of reading achievement is being able to select the correct CD of shitty rap from your local music store.
What the heck is that even supposed to be a spelling error of? It sounds most like ludicrous, but where do people get the ‘t’ from if that’s the case?
And also, I’ve never heard anybody pronounce ‘voila’ as ‘walla’, always ‘vwah-lah’. Maybe I’m moving in the wrong circles.
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### Author:  [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)
#### Post date: [July 3, 2010, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/walla-walla-walla/545365/16 "2010-07-03T10:45:48Z")
It’s actually [Ludachris](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludacris), as in rapper. This is [ludicrous](http://www.damninteresting.net/content/ludicrous_speed.jpg), as in speed.
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### Author:  [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)
#### Post date: [July 3, 2010, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/walla-walla-walla/545365/17 "2010-07-03T13:06:40Z")
Then there’s the famous Norwegian rapper, Ludafisk.
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### Author:  [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)
#### Post date: [July 3, 2010, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/walla-walla-walla/545365/18 "2010-07-03T13:19:46Z")
What about that jam band, Ludaphish?
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### Author:  [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)
#### Post date: [July 3, 2010, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/walla-walla-walla/545365/19 "2010-07-03T13:45:53Z")
Moved from The BBQ Pit to Mundane Pointless Stuff I Must Share.
**Gfactor**
Pit Moderator
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### Author:  [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)
#### Post date: [July 3, 2010, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/walla-walla-walla/545365/20 "2010-07-03T15:42:57Z")
May I note that I am neither ludicrous nor Ludacris.
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