NWTI Offers Wallon Course (1978)

NWTI Offers Wallon Course
Wed, Mat 1 1978
Algoma Record Herald

A beginners and intermediate class in the Wallon Belgian dialect will be offered as a NWTI course in the spring session to begin soon.

Classes will be at Algoma High school on Tuesday evenings from 7 to 9. Josie Wautlet, who has taught previous courses in this language, will be the instructor.

Those interested are asked to call Mary Ann Delveaux, NWTI coordinator, at 487-2580, or Mrs. Wautlet at 487-5636.

Dictionaries of the Wallon words with their English and French equivalents will be available.

The purpose of the course is to teach the understanding of the spoken Wallon language and the pronunciation of words and sentences in this language.

"We may even learn to sing some Wallon ditties." Mrs. Wautlet added. Classes will be: limited to the first 15 registants.

Kermiss

For as long as I have been alive we have spelled it Kermiss. But the tradition here in Wisconsin dates back to the first being held in Rosiere in September of 1858. As you can see by the late 1930's Wisconsin Belgian's had a couple spelling varieties (I've also seen; Kermiss, Kermis, Kermess, Kirmess) :

The proper French/Walloon spelling is Kermesse, and it sounds much like how we say it in English (Pronunciation by Pat91). The Flemish spell it Kermis.

And in case you need to review the history:

Couillon - Cooyah/cuyoo

From: Li walon po tertos

Cooyah/cuyoo is definitely "coyon/couyon" in Walloon and it is also a card game here. The original meaning is "ball, testicle".
Apparently it was used to refer to the circle used in the calculation of the scores.
You can find more information in French here for instance:
https://reglesdejeux.github.io/regles-du-jeu-couillon/index.html

(If you use "couillon" in French, it actually means "idiot")

Here in Wisconsin the popular Belgian card game has been spelled a couple different ways. Pronounced "koo yo" here, sometimes with almost a Q sound at the beginning.

Roadside Chapel - Arlene (DeChamps) Jadin