Sh*t pardon my french?

Question

i don't get it when people say that. what's the pun supposed to be?

Answer 1

it slipped out  sorry for saying that

Answer 2

Not everything in life has a point!

Answer 3

It's like saying it doesn't count because it's not your real language. I think it's kinda stupid. Oh well...

Answer 4

iguess it must be true o  s**+ t

Answer 5

It has nothing to do with puns.

There are many expressions which invoke a nationality other than the speakers when describing something that is considered immoral or improper. Condoms, for example, are called by the English "French letters" and a mean person a "Dutch Uncle."

Such expresions begin as a form of insult directed at the nationality named.

If one takes swearing as an immoral or improper act then describing such language as "French" is a typical attribution to a foreign nationality of an impropriety.

Over time such expressions tend to simply become part of the language and the original ill intent is forgotten or overlooked.

Other theories exist for this particular expression. One posits that it represents a desire on the part of the speaker to pretend, in a humourous manner, that the improper word they used is really not English,

There is also the rather interesting theory that this expression originated in the 1950's when America was being particularly strait laced and American intellectuals actually did curse in French. I find this a bit difficult to believe since, in  the 1960's, I lived in New York, spoke French, hung out in Greenwich village, and don't once recall hearing anyone using this phrase which I associate more with  middle brow mid westerners and southerners than bilingual intellectuals.