I wonder why people blame the French for bad language or is it only when people speak English. When I was in highschool we were in Quebec on a field trip and I noticed people in a coffe shop speaking in French swore in English. Maybe we got it backwards.
I just knew the idiom and used it with no malice against the french. And had to look up the possible origin of this expression ("pardon my french"). There seems to be some agreement, that it might somehow derive back from the times, when only educated people (i.e. the upper classes) mastered the french language - and used it to express more delicate things and/or prevent others from understanding what was being said.
The latter use f.ex. expressed in what has since turned into other idioms, albeit of a kind with a more neutral content: "Pas devant les enfants!" (litterally: 'not in front of the children!' - maybe more properly translated into: 'not while the children are listening!') - or almost the same, just reflecting the class-divide: "Pas devant les domestiques!" ('not in front of the servants!" - I don't know, what they did, if they had a french cook in their stately household?).
Another explanation is mentioned in Wikipidia:
"At least one source
[3] suggests that the phrase "derives from a literal usage of the exclamation. In the 19th century, when English people used French expressions in conversation they often apologized for it - presumably because many of their listeners (then as now) wouldn't be familiar with the language". The definition cites an example from
The Lady's Magazine, 1830:
[4]
Bless me, how fat you are grown! - absolutely as round as a ball: - you will soon be as
embonpoint* (excuse my French) as your poor dear father, the major.
*
Embonpoint is French for "plumpness"; state of being well-nourished.
The phrase has been used in
broadcast television and family films where less offensive words are preceded by "pardon my French" to intensify their effect without violating
censorship or
rating guidelines. A good example is in the movie
Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Cameron calls Mr. Rooney and says, "Pardon my French, but you're an *******".
[5]
Related expressions[edit]
Poster for the 1921 movie
Pardon My French, the character of the left uses the French profanity "Diable !".
Incidentally, several expressions are used by both the English and the French to describe the same culturally unacceptable habit, but attributing the habit to the other people:
- "to take a French leave" (to depart a party or other gathering without taking polite leave of one's host) is referenced in French as filer à l'anglaise (lit. "leave English-style").[6]
- "French letter" (now somewhat archaic; referring to a condom) is rendered in French as capote anglaise ("English hood" or "English cap").[7][8]
- During the 16th century in England, genital herpes was called the "French disease" and "French-sick" was a term for syphilis, while in France, it was called le Mal de Naples (the Napoli disease), after the syphilis outbreak in 1494/1495 while French troops were besieging Naples (History of syphilis, Syphilis).
- "French kiss" (A "kiss with the tongue" stimulates the partner's lips, tongue and mouth) is referred in french un baiser amoureux (lit. "Lover's kiss")."
Addendum: Curiously some foods are attributed to locations, where they sometimes even don't know them. Thus, what the americans call 'danish', is in Denmark called 'Vienna bread' (Wienerbrød) - and I don't think that exactly this sort of pastry can be considered especially viennese. In Denmark we call some sort of white bread for French bread (Franskbrød) - it hasn't much to do with any bread, I've seen in France. What they in many places in Germany refer to as 'Berliner', is in Berlin called 'Pfannkuchen' (a kind of beignet bun) - by Pfannkuchen most other germans refer to 'pancakes'. And lastly, what I in the US have seen advertised as 'Danish Smörgaasboard' is really something of an oxymoron: 'Smörgaas' is actually swedish - it's called 'Smørrebrød' in danish. And there is a huge difference between the swedish smörgaas and danish smørrebrød - at least if you are a scandinavian! And I doubt it, if what was served in the US-diner had anything to do with either!
PS. Did I say, that I love France, and french culture: Vive la belle France!