"Excuse my French"

[gerry]

Why is it after someone swears they will sometimes  use the phrase "Excuse my French"?.Why that phrase?

[Quizmonster]

It has long been the case that nations blame their neighbours - especially those very close and against whom wars have been fought - for all sorts of failings.  Thus, we make fun of �Dutch courage', which appears only if the Dutchman is drunk.  Similarly, our slang for a condom includes the word �French' and theirs includes �English'.  When we skive off, we take �French leave' and when they do, they take �English leave'.
�Excuse my French' is very much in the same mould.  The suggestion is that there is no such thing as a �bad word' in English, so - if someone imagines they heard one, they must have misheard it as French...or "I was really speaking French!"

[stoo_pid]

I thought it was because most of our swear words come from the French language?

[Quizmonster]

Obviously, I don't know which swear-words you are familiar with, Stoo_pid, but the ones best-known to me are from rather further back in our linguistic heritage!

[Eski]

Im taking a punt but I guess it was used back in history a hundred years ago for the first time as an excuse to not get in trouble for swearing.

[Quizmonster]

The earliest recorded use of the phrase was in 'Harper's Magazine' in 1895 and that was just for using the word 'durned'!