"mere mistakes"

[Jesse T Sheidlower]

>
> 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.

The _Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang_
includes this as _French_ n. 2., with citations for "excuse
my French" from 1865 and 1895, and varying forms thereafter.
The earliest for the "pardon" variant is 1954.

Jesse Sheidlower
<jester at panix.com>