"mere mistakes"

[Alexey I. Fuchs]

An american guy told me once: "It's funny how we use the names of other
countries, all those expressions like "there's something rotten in/about
Denmark", "pardon my French" etc."

I used "pardon my French" in the same way as "akstericks." I did it on the
mailing list of American Dialect Society.

Whose feelings did I hurt?

Do you really suggest that I "attributed our obscenities" to the French?
And then - to the French what? Language or people?

In any case, my sincere apologies to the French.

P.S. If anybody knows about the origin/first usage of this phrase (pardon
my French) I'd be delighted if you share this information with me. Seems
to be from some old movie... And sounds quite senseless too.


                                                        Alexey



> I do not believe that it is polite or correct to attribute our obscenities
> to the French.
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Alexey I. Fuchs <c0654038 at TECHST02.TECHNION.AC.IL>
> To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Sent: Wednesday, October 06, 1999 7:58 AM
> Subject: Re: "mere mistakes"
>
>
> > At least, no more akstericks in the fuckin'-word during this discussion
> > here. Seems to me hypocrisy. They dont use no asktericks in Webster, I saw
> > it there.
> >
> > Pardon my French.
> >
> >                                                         Alexey