History Main / EveryThingSoundsSexierInFrench

* With [[WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs Painter Smurf]], it's more like Everything Sounds Smurfier In French. ''Mon ami, that's ze truth!''

* English: [[IAmVeryBritish Received Pronunciation]] sounds [[SmartPeopleSpeakTheQueensEnglish wealthy, privileged and aristocratic]]. In the US, the East Coast "preppy" and "transatlantic" accents hold similar connotations. Other accents ([[AwesomeAussie Australian]], [[UsefulNotes/AmericanAccents most American]] and [[CanadaEh Canadian]], [[UsefulNotes/BritishAccents Cockney]], [[OopNorth Northern English]], [[ViolentGlaswegian Scottish]], [[{{Oireland}} Irish]], New Zealand, etc.) are hearty and sometimes "cool" too, but also [[LowerClassLout uncouth]] or at least unsophisticated. (Most Midwestern American and Canadian accents, for example, can come across as down-to-earth and unpretentious.) And if you're going for calm sophistication, definitely do not go with [[BrooklynRage Brooklyn]]. Southern US accents can go these ways: a SouthernGentleman/[[SouthernBelle Belle]], a [[AmericansAreCowboys Texas cowboy]] or an [[TheFundamentalist ultraconservative]], [[HalfWittedHillbilly stupid]], [[SmallTownTyrant racist]] [[TheKlan bigot]].

* ''Series/InterviewWithTheVampire2022'': After Lestat says in French, "''Seulement l'impossible peut faire l'impossible''," [[note]]"Only the impossible can do the impossible."[[/note]] Lily's response is, "I don't know much what you're saying. But it sure sounds nice."

* Alcazar's song [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2o29LLdArlc Mènage A Trois]] is ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin. The song and music video are about members of the group seducing the same guy and inviting him to join them. Remind that [[HomoeroticSubtext the group at]] [[EvenTheGuysWantHim the time was]] GenderEqualEnsemble.

* Alcazar's song [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2o29LLdArlc Mènage A Trois]] is ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin. The song and music video are about members of the group seducing the same guy and trying to invite him to join them. Remind that [[HomoeroticSubtext the group at]] [[EvenTheGuysWantHim the time was]] GenderEqualEnsemble.

May overlap with GratuitousFrench if there really is no reason for it to be in French. Compare GratuitousForeignLanguage, AsLongAsItSoundsForeign, UsefulNotes/BritishAccents. See also EveryoneLooksSexierIfFrench.

* French: French sounds fashionistic, cultured and artsy, or (in the Anglosphere e.g. Britain and America) the accent of [[FrenchJerk insufferable elitist snobbery - the language of]] ''[[FrenchJerk douchebags]]''.

* English: [[IAmVeryBritish Received Pronunciation]] sounds [[SmartPeopleSpeakTheQueensEnglish wealthy, privileged and aristocratic]]. In the US, the East Coast "preppy" and "transatlantic" accents hold similar connotations. Other accents ([[AwesomeAussie Australian]], [[CanadaEh Eastern Canadian]], [[UsefulNotes/AmericanAccents most American]], [[UsefulNotes/BritishAccents Cockney]], [[OopNorth Northern English]], [[ViolentGlaswegian Scottish]], [[{{Oireland}} Irish]], New Zealand, etc.) are hearty and sometimes "cool" too, but also [[LowerClassLout uncouth]] or at least unsophisticated. (Most Midwestern American and Canadian accents, for example, can come across as down-to-earth and unpretentious.) And if you're going for calm sophistication, definitely do not go with [[BrooklynRage Brooklyn]]. Southern US accents can go these ways: a SouthernGentleman/[[SouthernBelle Belle]], a [[AmericansAreCowboys Texas cowboy]] or an [[TheFundamentalist ultraconservative]], [[HalfWittedHillbilly stupid]], [[SmallTownTyrant racist]] [[TheKlan bigot]].

* English: [[IAmVeryBritish Received Pronunciation]] sounds [[SmartPeopleSpeakTheQueensEnglish wealthy, privileged and aristocratic]]. In the US, the East Coast "preppy" and "transatlantic" accents hold similar connotations. Other accents ([[AwesomeAussie Australian]], {{Canad|aEh}}ian, [[UsefulNotes/AmericanAccents most American]], [[UsefulNotes/BritishAccents Cockney]], [[OopNorth Northern English]], [[ViolentGlaswegian Scottish]], [[{{Oireland}} Irish]], New Zealand, etc.) are hearty and sometimes "cool" too, but also [[LowerClassLout uncouth]] or at least unsophisticated. (Most Midwestern American accents, for example, can come across as down-to-earth and unpretentious.) And if you're going for calm sophistication, definitely do not go with [[BrooklynRage Brooklyn]]. Southern US accents can go these ways: a SouthernGentleman, a [[AmericansAreCowboys Texas cowboy]] or an [[TheFundamentalist ultraconservative]] [[DeepSouth racist]] [[TheKlan bigot]].

* ''Series/TheMuppetShow'' had guest star Charles Aznavour explain to Kermit that everything does sound better in French, especiall if the woman didn't speak it. To demonstrate he told Missy Piggy that her oil filter was broken and the nuber of the Paris garbage dump. She went wild.

* Slavic languages: similar to Nordic languages, but UpToEleven and BlackSpeech like UsefulNotes/ColdWar communist spy, TheMafiya, or BalkanBastard, on the other hand, it even sounds sultry like SensualSlav.

* In the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' fics of Creator/AAPessimal, the Assassins' Guild's Swords teacher Madame Deux-Epées is a [[UsefulNotes/{{France}} Quirmian]] with all the knobs turned UpToEleven. She is stylish, sexy, sensual, and knows the effect a strong Quirmian accent has on susceptible male listeners. She plays on this for all she can. Her younger colleague Antoinette de Badin-Boucher is from [[CanadaEh Quirmian Aceria]]. She also speaks Quirmian, but with an interesting local dialect.

* Slavic languages: similar with Nordic, but more serious and UpToEleven like communist spy or TheMafiya, on the other hand, it even sounds sultry like SensualSlav.

* Chinese: Depends on the era. If it's Ancient, it sounds like ancient wisdom (e.g. [[UsefulNotes/{{Taoism}} Laozi]] and Creator/{{Confucius}}). But Modern? [[AsianRudeness Rude and shouty]]. The exception is Modern Cantonese, which gives some vibes of badass gangster or [[AllChinesePeopleKnowKungFu Kung-Fu fighter]] from [[UsefulNotes/HongKong Hong Kongese]] MartialArtsMovie.
* Korean: Can go either [[AsianAndNerdy smart-ass]] and [[InscrutableOriental darkly mature]] like [[UsefulNotes/NorthKorea North Korean spy]], Series/SquidGame or Film/{{Parasite|2019}}, or loveable and cutesy like KoreanPopMusic.

* Chinese: Depends on the era. If it's Ancient, it sounds like ancient wisdom (e.g. [[UsefulNotes/{{Taoism}} Laozi]] and Creator/{{Confucius}}). But Modern? [[AsianRudeness Rude and shouty]].

* In many non-English speaking countries, everything sounds cooler in English; it's one of the main reasons why GratuitousEnglish is so widespread, after all.

* In the dub of ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}'', [[RavenHairIvorySkin Chane]] [[KnifeNut Laforet]] has a french accent...[[CuteMute as an inner monologue]]. Then again, the [[Creator/MonicaRial voice]] sure helped. YMMV on her father [[Creator/EricVale Huey]] [[MadScientist Laforet]].

* Music/SonnyBono and Music/{{Cher}} demonstrated this on their VarietyShow by having Cher sing "Hit the Road, Jack" in French. It came out sounding like a romantic serenade.

** it has been pointed out this began happening after 1066. The reason why Anglo-Saxon words are used for the food animals, while French terms are used for the meat dishes made from them, is very simple. The peasants who tended the animals but rarely got to eat the meat were Saxon peasants; the people who had nothing to do with the livestock but got to eat the carcasses were the ruling Norman-French.

[[folder:La Vie Réelle]]

* In ''[[Fanfic/BloodTies Lost in Translation]]'', Alphonse calls French an "attractively lyrical language". It's also decidedly foreign as ''literally'' no one but Ed and Noa can speak it.

* In ''Literature/TheHost'' when a Soul gets a new host, they automatically gain all of that host's communicative abilities, which leads Wanderer to often mention translated idioms from previous alien cultures that she's lived in... which leads to a running gag with her noting that "it sounds better in Bear".

* This may be a common thing with French dubs of Disney movies; the French lyrics for "Hellfire", the VillainSong in ''WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'', are significantly darker than the English ones. And with this song, that's saying something.

* Greek: Greek is the language of Science: TechnoBabble, ScienceFiction and STEM jargon names. Anything High-Tech will be named by the Greek suffix "[[NameTron -tron]]."

* Latin: Latin sounds [[GratuitousLatin solemn]] -- whether in the sense of [[OminousLatinChanting Religion]] or [[SmartPeopleKnowLatin intelligence]], or alternately just being [[PretentiousLatinMotto pretentious]]. Unless you're doing a reconstructed pronunciation, in which case it can sound like a particularly badass Italian.