January 14, 1998

French

Why do people say "pardon my French" prior to swearing... in English?

Because the French are often stereotypically associated with indecency, especially of a sexual nature.

The word French in English has long been used in sexual references. The expression French pox or French disease, for syphilis or other venereal diseases, is the oldest, which dates all the way back to 1500. A number of terms developed in the nineteenth century, including French letter for a condom and French print for a pornographic picture.

The use of French to mean 'blunt or offensive language', which is now found exclusively in the expression "excuse (or pardon) my French," is first found in the 1860s. Though it does not necessarily refer to sexually indecent terms (many of the early examples refer to religious blasphemy), the main suggestion of the word French was probably taken as 'offensive' rather than 'sexual' in this context.

Though this sense of French is first recorded in America, it is not specifically an American usage; Joyce used it in Ulysses, for example.