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"Pardon my French" or "Excuse my French" is a common English language phrase ostensibly disguising profanity as French. The phrase is uttered in an attempt to excuse the user of profanity or curses in the presence of those offended by it under the pretense of the words being part of a foreign language. Another interpretation is that the speaker is compelled to use the distasteful language and is apologizing to the audience for the necessity. The phrase has found large use in broadcast television and family films where less offensive words are followed by "pardon my French" to emphasize their meaning 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 asshole." In another segment, Bueller says about Cameron "Excuse my french, but if we were to stick a lump of coal up Cameron's ass, we would have a diamond in two weeks."
Origins It has been suggested that the French language is used because of the association of the French people with vulgarity, and that this euphemism is an example of Francophobia. An alternative explanation is that French was for a long time the most-spoken foreign language in the United Kingdom. Some believe the expression may have come from 1950s intellectuals who were well-versed in French. In the fifties, cursing was considered to be a major taboo, so the speaker would actually curse in French to be more polite. In these instances, "Pardon my French" would refer to actual French. Related expressions Several expressions in French attempt to link various practices perceived as unsavory to England, e.g., "l'éducation anglaise" (disciplining children by sexually-tinged spanking). Ironically, several expressions are used by both the English and the French to describe the same unacceptable habit, but attributing the habit to the other people e.g., "taking French leave" (leaving a party or other gathering without taking polite leave of one's host) is referred to in French as "filer à l'anglaise" (literally, "leaving English-style"), while the (now somewhat archaic) expression "French letter" (referring to a condom) is rendered in French as "capote anglaise". During the 16th century in England, genital herpes was called the "French disease" and "French-sick" was a term for syphilis. These are also considered examples of Francophobia. See also | ||||||||
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