eh-oh vs. uh-oh in Teletubbies

[Lise Fontaine]

Having watched the program far too many times and in three versions, I
would have to say that I think there are indeed two forms.  It is certainly
very clear in the version from France that something like e?o is used as a
greeting, with a wave, (interesting that they have kept that and not
something close to bonjour) so you get a series of e?o Dipsy e?o Lala, etc.
as they go through each name saying 'hello' ('bonjour' whatever).

I am not sure of the use of uh-oh (oh dear) in the French version, but it
is certainly there in the US and British versions in a context of some sort
of regret.  The male voice over has been changed in the US version to an
American voice (although I wouldn't be willing to bet money on that, it's
how it sounded to me.)

My 18 month old seems to distinguish between the two forms (am I crazy?),
he puts his hand in front of his mouth and says uh-oh when he drops
something, I haven't heard him say anything like e?o and he doesn't seem to
say anything at all for hello/bonjour.  He does produce something like
<bauvoir> which sounds to me like a cross between bye bye and au revoir.
(however I don't think it is necessarily that)  He hears both regularly
from us and of course the Teletubbies say it about a million times at the
end of the tape (and he watches it in English and in French).

best wishes,

Lise Fontaine

>  Perhaps there are TWO forms here,  eh-oh (hello, without the 'h' or
>'l' sounds) and uh-oh.   Uh-oh is certainly current in British English
>(used in much teh same way as in the US with young children), and the
>other form may be an attempt to represent infant speech without the
>medial -l- in hello.