Talk:Pardon my French

Comment
Discussion regarding the suggested merge and opposition to it can be found at Talk:Francophobia and Talk:Anti-French sentiment in the United States.

Comic Books?
I think the comic book mention is a bit obscure. I vote to have it removed. i love them — Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.53.159.6 (talk) 01:01, 1 August 2013 (UTC)

Stub status
I just added some extra content and (hopefully) good organization. I didn't remove the stub status because I'm not sure what the criteria is... but how much information should be added to the page before it's not a stub? Joshuagross 19:36, 15 March 2006 (UTC)
 * The stub status was removed in this edit 20:02, 7 September 2007 (UTC).  —  Jeff G.  ツ  04:32, 2 March 2011 (UTC)

Alternative Etymology
I am of the understanding that the term "pardon my French" comes from Scotland, where the word "footer" is similiar in sounding to the French "foutre" (unsure of spelling) which is the French for "fuck", and would be said after someone apparently misheard footer as futre.

Metaliser 11:28, 31 March 2007 (UTC)


 * There are many French translations of "fuck", depending on the sense in which it is being used. The French verb "foutre" (which is infinitive in this form) translates in this manner: "Je me fous complètement de ce que tu penses." = "I don't give a fuck what you think." In any case, I think it's a pretty safe bet that the phrase "pardon my French" first appeared somewhere in the United Kingdom. Fuzzform (talk) 00:25, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

Another Alt. Etymology
The word for seal in french is phoque, which is pronounce just like "fuck". Therefore if someone says "fuck", he could pretend to be saying a french word "phoque" and ask that his French (pronounciation) be excused. Of course it is a joke, because there are very few occasions when one would casually reference this ocean dwelling mammal. Clerks. 21:14, 16 April 2007 (UTC)

WTF?
"(disciplining children by sexually-tinged spanking)" really the french do that ? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Special:Contributions/ (talk)


 * Nope. That's vandalism of the article. Fuzzform (talk) 00:27, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

POV's & Original Research
This article is full of personal POV's and original research. Without evidence (i.e. citations), a claim is as good as false. I've never seen any evidence that the phrase "pardon my French" is meant as an insult (whether purposeful or not) to the French language or people. As for the "trivia is discouraged" tag... millions of articles contain trivia and almost none of them have that tag. I'm removing it. Fuzzform (talk) 00:07, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

I think that there is almost nothing worthwhile in this article and that unless someone can show otherwise, it should be entirely deleted. It's been flagged long enough. 216.8.121.1 (talk) 19:52, 17 October 2008 (UTC)
 * The article is not tagged for deletion and is a notable phrase. —Vanderdecken∴ ∫ξφ 10:50, 18 October 2008 (UTC)

Etymology
The etymology provided in the article is extremely problematic for a number of reasons. Among them, the explanation given would require that the phrase be passed in a semantic—rather than phonetic—form through the end of the Old English period (sometime in the 11th century) through to Modern English. This seems unlikely at best. The first alternate etymology provided on this talk page also seems speculative and the second seems to simply be a guess. None of them have citations. I'd suggest that the Origins section either be researched or purged for the time being. —Leftmostcat (talk) 02:13, 20 November 2008 (UTC)

More Etymology
I have found other possible origins of this phrase mentioned elsewhere on the net: I tend to think the first is probably the origin but haven't found a good source to reference. The posted origin I don't believe is accurate. —CFPeterson (talk) 12:53, 01 July 2009 (UTC)
 * "French" used to be a term for vulgar, sexual, or obscene.
 * That vulgar speech was more accepted in France.
 * Is an offshoot of "excuse my French".

A good example
The first paragraph says
 * 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.

and continues to give two examples from Ferris Bueller. Do we really need TWO examples here? And are they really good examples? I think that broadcast television and family films still avoid swear words such as ass/asshole. --Austrian (talk) 10:02, 27 July 2009 (UTC)

In popular culture
This phrase is also used in the movie French Kiss. Indeed, Meg Ryan, after calling her ex-fiancé's new girlfriend for whom he left her a bitch, ironically apologizes by saying "Pardon my French", which is funny in this situation as the girlfriend in question is French and the movie takes place in France. Yakuzanodon (talk) 09:48, 9 February 2010 (UTC)

The "In popular culture" section
I'm not normally a deletionist, and I generally oppose the WP consensus on trivia sections, but does this article really warrant an "in popular culture" section? It's a common phrase, not a cultural phenomenon as such. I appreciate the work people have put into collecting examples, but none of them strike me as particularly famous, notable, uses of the term. Or am I misunderstanding? --76.108.88.2 (talk) 13:39, 8 June 2011 (UTC)
 * It was all cruft and I chopped it. We have a separate project (Wiktionary) that collects word defintions and usage exemplars.  But the stuff in that section was mostly too crufty even for Wiktionary. 64.160.39.72 (talk) 21:31, 6 February 2012 (UTC)

Folk etymology?
I'd been thinking that the word "French" in this phrase might not ever have literally referred to the French language or culture, but might be a folk etymology from "frankness" or lingua franca, either of which arguably could at some point have been misinterpreted as "French", since they all seem to share an etymological heritage. B7T (talk) 07:30, 9 February 2014 (UTC)

Exquis me Persian
Please wait ... 31.14.151.37 (talk) 23:30, 17 November 2022 (UTC)