Dear writers and editors: Please note that there is no such word as “wallah” (alt. sp. walla, wala). The word you are looking for is “voilà.” Voilà means “Check out this thing I’m showing you here.”
In case it helps you remember, I’m going to take a stab with my limited French and guess that the word voilà comes from a contraction of two French words: voir (to see) and là (here). That’s what you meant to say, right?
I’m not sure what’s more shocking to me: that published writers would actually put “wallah” into print; or that editors would not correct it. Or has “wallah” become an accepted part of the English language, like the also unfortunate “emcee”?
In either case: please don’t. Thank you.