>I dredged this up from the wwftd archives:
>the worthless word for the day is: walla-walla
>an unintelligible sound made by many people talking at once [from a Hindi word]
>In the theater, a walla-walla scene is one where extras pretend to be talking in the background -- when >they say "walla-walla" it looks like they are actually talking.
>...perhaps shanks can confirm this one.
Hi Tsuwm
Just read your post- thought I'd try my hand at it. I first thought of the Urdu word "W-allah" which means "O Allah", but then in an Urdu dictionary I found this:
Walwala - Howling, lamenting. A tumult noise, uproar, murmur. A gush of passion, ardour, fervour. Pining, repining.
A rather varied amount of meanings. My Urdu dictionary I treat with indulgence. The words are not very delicately explained. Then it says :
Walwalaat - is howling or lamentation; Walwalaa-na - to howl or lament
So the dominant meaning seems to be howling and lamentation. But the meaning of "Tumultous noise, murmur, uproar" could have lead to walla-walla.
