Using the French Expression Oh làlÃÂ

Using the French Expression Oh l l The French phrase oh l l isnt so much an expression as an interjection. It can indicate surprise, disappointment, commiseration, distress, or annoyance. The phrase is used to express any moderately strong reaction to something that was just said or done, for example: Oh l l ! Jai oublià © mon portefeuille! Oh no, I forgot my wallet! You can strengthen the phrase by adding more  ls, but you need to do so in pairs. Using and Misusing Oh l l A native French speaker might use the expression as follows. Suppose this person is passing through Charles de Gaulle Airport, which is near Paris. Imagine that the man is looking at souvenirs and knocks over a small Eiffel Tower made of glass, causing it to shatter. He might exclaim: Oh l  l l  l l  l!  (Note how he inserted four extra  ls- two pairs of two- to heighten his expression of annoyance or mortification.) Another example might be a French native speaker playing poker. Suppose the card player draws an ace to give her four aces, generally a winning hand. She might use the phrase as follows:   Oh l l l l ! (a beat) l l! Note that in English, this expression is often used in to talk about something risquà ©. It tends to be misspelled in these occurrences and mispronounced as ooh la la. It is also usually said fairly slowly and with the first word comically elongated. That is not the way to use the expression correctly in French. Pronouncing and Defining Oh l l Click the link for [o la la] to bring up a sound file that will let you hear how to correctly pronounce the phrase. Click the link a couple of times, listen carefully, and then repeat the saying until you are able to pronounce it correctly. Though the phrase does, indeed, translate as Oh dear, Oh my, or Oh no, its literal translation is Oh there, there. That would make little sense in English, hence the generally accepted, and more emotional, translations. Using  Oh l l in Conversation According to The Local, there are many ways to correctly use this versatile interjection: For example, you show someone your new ring and they say, Oh l l cest trop jolie!  (Oh my god it’s so pretty!) It is high, light and happy. The Stockholm-based website devoted to European languages and culture, including French, warns that you should not use the phrase for particularly negative situations, such as  a car barreling  through a pedestrian crossing nearly knocking  you over, a biker ringing his bell at you, or someone cutting in front of you in line at the grocery store. There are other  French phrases  that are more appropriate for those kinds of situations. But the expressive phrase is really a useful one to employ if you are visiting France: (There are) moments when Oh l l l l l l  is really the only way you can express your frustration/anger/hanger (hunger anger). It is satisfying. If you live in Paris long enough, says the website, it will become an automatic part of your vocabulary, adding that at this the point, youll know youre really turning Parisian.

Haasts Eagle (Harpagornis) Facts and Figures

Haasts Eagle (Harpagornis) Facts and Figures   Name: Haasts Eagle; also known as Harpagornis (Greek for grapnel bird); pronounced HARP-ah-GORE-niss Habitat: Skies of New Zealand Historical Epoch: Pleistocene-Modern (2 million-500 years ago) Size and Weight: About six foot wingspan and 30 pounds Diet: Meat Distinguishing Characteristics: Large size; grasping talons About Haasts Eagle (Harpagornis) Wherever there were large, flightless prehistoric birds, you can be sure there were also predatory raptors like eagles or vultures on the lookout for an easy lunch. Thats the role Haasts Eagle (also known as Harpagornis or the Giant Eagle) played in Pleistocene New Zealand, where it swooped down and carried off giant moas like Dinornis and Emeus  -   not full-grown adults, but juveniles and newly hatched chicks. As befitting the size of its prey, Haasts Eagle was the biggest eagle that ever lived, but not by all that much - adults only weighed about 30 pounds, compared to 20 or 25 pounds for the largest eagles alive today. We cant know for sure, but extrapolating from the behavior of modern eagles, Harpagornis may have had a distinctive hunting style - swooping down on its prey at speeds of up to 50 miles per hour, seizing the unfortunate animal by the pelvis with one of its talons, and delivering a killing blow to the head with the other talon before (or even while) taking flight. Unfortunately, because it relied so heavily on Giant Moas for its sustenance, Haasts Eagle was doomed when these slow, gentle, flightless birds were hunted to extinction by the first human settlers of New Zealand, going extinct itself shortly afterward.