“Par­don my French”  is a com­mon Eng­lish lan­guage phrase osten­si­bly dis­guis­ing pro­fan­ity as French. The phrase is uttered in an attempt to excuse the user of pro­fan­ity or curses in the pres­ence of those offended by it under the pre­tense of the words being part of a for­eign language.

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. A good exam­ple is in the movie Fer­ris Bueller’s Day Off. Cameron calls Mr. Rooney and says, “Par­don my French, but you’re an ass­hole.” In another seg­ment, Bueller says about Cameron, “Par­don my French, but if you were to shove a lump of coal up his ass, in two weeks you’d have a diamond.”

See also: Fran­co­pho­bia