Not so much now, but in the previous generation people here in the US would use the phrase "Pardon my French" after cursing. Does France have a similar phrase?
Asked by
rojo (
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May 25th, 2017
The phrase “Pardon my French” was usually said by a male who got carried away and uttered a curse word such as “Damn” in mixed company. I know it is not common anymore but then again cursing is nowadays commonplace.
Do/did other countries use something similar? Did the French say “Pardon my English”? Do the Swedes say “Pardon my Norse”? Do the Vietnamese say “Pardon my Thai”? Do the Indians say “Pardon my Urdu”?
What about the Germans, Libyans and Chinese?
Did the phrase originate in England and just become a part of the American Lexicography? Do the English use the same phrase?
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9 Answers
We do NOT apologise for cursing. Fick!
“Do not speak Chinese” if someone is speaking in an unknown language.
I still use the phrase “pardon my French” when it seems the curses are perhaps excessive. It has nothing to do with whether or not the company is mixed, but I’ve spent a lot of time in the theatre. Theatre folk curse a lot.
I think it was originally from using French when not everyone in the room would understand a French word or phrase that was injected into the conversation, and then it evolved to swear words even in English. Funny, my mom uses a French word here and there that has not been adopted into English, I do it to. One that stands out is “sans” or maybe that is English now? My mom used “ici” a lot also.
My guess is the French was also used when the speaker didn’t want others to understand what was being said. Sometimes it was probably curse words.
As an aside, what comes to mind is all the Yiddish injected into conversation, but funny that now a lot of that is English too.
I haven’t used or heard “pardon my French” for cursing in a long time, but it was used when I was younger. It seems like it would be politically incorrect. I sometimes say something is “like Greek to me” when it sounds like babble, but recently I’ve felt uncomfortable saying it.
Well, a related common phrase in France is:
“Je suis tellement heureuse que je ne suis pas Américain”
(“I’m SO glad that I’m not an American”)
Well, I heard some things that we are still greatly admired in Akrotiri, Bouvet Island, and Dhekelia.
So…..you know….that’s somethin’......
I still say ‘pardon my French’ occasionally and we used to say someone was ‘speaking double Dutch’ if you couldn’t understand what they were trying to say.
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