# au-a-leu! / aoleu / aoleo (exclamation)



## jboone

Anyone who's spent time in Romania has heard this, and knows it means something like, "Oh, man!" 

Just three questions:

Is there a standard way of spelling it?
Does it come from a particular phrase?
Does it tend to be used more by women than men? (I more often hear women saying it.)

Multumesc mult!


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## féebleue

Hello!

1. Usually it is written "aoleu". The dictionary also admits alternative spellings, like "aoleo" and "auleu". But it's an interjection, so it's used mostly in informal speech, more rarely in writing (and never in formal contexts). Also, I'd say it means something more like "oh, no!", or "oh, my god!".
2. It's an interjection and it doesn't have a very clear origin.
3. I don't know, both men and women use it. Now that you mention it, maybe women do tend to use it more, but I guess that's because men are machos who feel like it's a sign of weakness to complain 

Also, at the countryside, there are still some old ladies who respect an old tradition of crying very, very loudly at funerals. This interjection, along with others, like "vai", "văleu", "văleleu" are used a lot in that context. So maybe that's why an excessive use of "aoleu" could be associated with old, uneducated peasant women.


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## farscape

féebleue said:


> Also, at the countryside, there are still some old ladies who respect an old tradition of crying (wake) very, very loudly at funerals. This interjection, along with others, like "vai", "văleu", "văleleu" are used a lot in that context. So maybe that's why an excessive use of "aoleu" could be associated with old, uneducated peasant women.



I take exception to this statement and in particular the last phrase: I've heard the interjection enough times from people who did not meet the criteria outlined there 

As it's been pointed out already, there are no standard expressions or uses for it; generally is used for  expressing  grievance, annoyance, utter concern or scare. Here are a few examples, but the list is probably much longer:

Auăleu, n-ai terminat odată? - OMG/oh man/... you're not done yet?
Aoleo, m-ai speriat! - Oops/Gee/... you scared me!
Auăleu, m-am săturat, mai taci odată! - (...) I've had enough, shut up already!
Aoleo, ce ne facem acum? - OMG, what are we going to do now?

Best,


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## jboone

Many thanks, these are both very helpful replies!


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## farscape

Another form for *auăleu*/*aoleo* is *oleo*. It took me a while to remember it  because it's not used as frequent as the other two, but none the less  it's in the dictionary.

Later,


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