My dad always used to preface the dropping of an farad - bomb or a tan of originative profanity with a request that listeners “ pardon his French . ” Surely you ’ve acknowledge people who do this too or seen it in movies or TV . The idea is that the phrase excuses the speaker for using some common words under the coy pretense that they ’re from a alien language .
The phrase come along in the U.S. in this usage as early on as the 1800s , and linguists think that it gain from a more literal usage . That is , English speakers dropped French words or phrases into conversation — whether to display their finish , refinement or social class , or because sometimes only a Gallic phrase has that certainje ne sais quoi — and then rationalize for it if the hearer was n’t intimate with the Holy Writ or did n’t talk the language . An instance of this usance bulge up in the 18th-19thcentury British mode magazineThe Lady ’s Magazine , or Entertaining Companion for the Fair Sex , Appropriated only to Their Use and Amusementin 1830 : “ Bless me , how fat you are grown ! Absolutely as circular as a ball . You will presently be asenbon - point(excuse my French ) as your poor dear Fatherhood , the major . ”
The idiom may have been appropriated for report foul voice communication because it fits the habit of ascribing offensive habit or aim to the French through nickname in English . For example , " taking Gallic parting " is leaving a gather without saying goodbye and thanking the boniface ; " Gallic missive " is an archaic nickname for a condom ; “ French kiss ” implies the gratuitous use of the spit ; and herpes used to be wide known as the “ Gallic disease . ”
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