French Lessons: Oh, la vache!

So drawing une vache is admittedly far more complicated than un trombone, but in my continued effort to teach you words while I practice my Illustrator skills, I went for it (and I'm not trying to deny using an image to help trace my cow – it still wasn't easy). Maybe one day I'll be skilled enough to give him an eye, but for now, he – or rather she (the word 'cow' is feminine en français) – is what she is, Oh, la vache! This has quickly become one of my favorite French phrases. Une vache is literally a cow, and c'est la vache would mean, "it's a cow." But Oh, la vache is this wonderful phrase which I suppose would mean "Holy Cow!" but unlike that phrase which feels like it was popular when I was in 4th grade, Oh, la vache is something you'll hear regularly come out of the mouths of Frenchies of all ages. It could be used in a situation where you'd say "Oh my god!" but it also has a bit of a more mundane essence to it as in "my, oh, my."

Today in Paris it'd be fair to say, "Oh, la vache! This weather SUCKS!".