Pardon my French
"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.
The phrase has found large use in broadcast television and family films where less offensive words are preceded 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, "Pardon my French, but if you were to shove a lump of coal up his ass, in two weeks you'd have a diamond."
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 culturally 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, "flee 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.[1][2] These are also considered examples of Francophobia.
In popular culture
- In an episode of the television series Seinfeld, George Costanza remarks to Elaine that he once said to a woman, in an effort to impress her, that he coined the phrase.
- The phrase is used in the graphic novel Hulk:Gray, by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale. In the book, the following line occurs: "Pardon my French, but that's the biggest pile of merde I've heard all day". Merde is French for "shit."
- The title of a 1935 Three Stooges short "Pardon My Scotch" suggests a variation on the phrase.
- In the 1990 movie, Tremors, Earl Bassett (Fred Ward) frequently states "Pardon my French" after swearing.
- In the Discworld series of books by Terry Pratchett, the related phrase "Pardon my Klatchian" is used as an equivalent, referring to the desert nation of Klatch, seen as barbarian.[3]
- In the Saturday Night Live comedy sketch Celebrity Jeopardy, Norm Macdonald (impersonating Burt Reynolds) remarks to a previous statement: "Hey, I speak a little French. You're an asswipe, pardon my French."
- In the 1991 film "Frankie and Johnny", Johnny (Al Pacino) says frequently "Pardon My French" after swearing in front of Frankie (Michelle Pfeiffer)