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| 7 | [[quoteright:300:[[ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/efb6e6cb_5c78_415b_8172_48ba9c6e7b7d.png]]]] |
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| 9 | |
| 10 | ->'''Apple Bloom:''' Sacre bleu! Plus de Marques de Cutie! ''[{{gasp}}s]'' Qu'est-ce c'est? Je parle Français!?[[note]]Holy apple fritter! More Cutie Marks! ''[{{gasp}}s]'' What's this? I'm speaking French!?[[/note]]\ |
| 11 | '''Applejack:''' My sister's speakin' in fancy! |
| 12 | -->-- ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'', "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E6TheCutiePox The Cutie Pox]]" |
| 13 | |
| 14 | From time to time, characters who want to be seen as ''très intelligents''[[note]]"very intelligent"[[/note]] add ''un peu de français''[[note]]"a little bit of French"[[/note]] to their speech, ''n'est-ce pas?''[[note]]"you know?" or, more literally, "Isn't it?"[[/note]] |
| 15 | |
| 16 | This may be because of a certain... ''[[EverythingSoundsSexierInFrench je ne sais quoi]]''[[note]]"indescribable quality", or literally "I don't know what"[[/note]], or because French is just -- ''Quel est le mot juste?''[[note]]"What is the right word?"[[/note]] -- [[RuleOfCool cool]]. And don't forget that French used to be the ''lingua franca''[[note]]"common language"; [[GratuitousLatin this one is actually Latin]][[/note]] of the Western world, and still is a lingua franca in Africa[[note]]particularly in the countries formerly colonized by the French and Belgians such as Morocco, Algeria, Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire, Benin, Togo, Cameroon, Equitorial Guinea, Gabon, Chad, the Central African Republic, Congo-Brazzaville, Congo-Kinshasa, Rwanda, Burundi, Djibouti, and Madagascar[[/note]]; educated people would learn it to talk to other educated people, possibly about how uneducated everyone who didn't speak French was. Now that English has become the new universal language, the trope is often used to underscore the kind of pretentious bohemian character who [[IRejectYourReality lives in a world of their own]] and [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} has no idea how reality works]]. |
| 17 | |
| 18 | However, native French-speakers usually use English words for the same reason. |
| 19 | |
| 20 | Note that this trope's ''raison d'être''[[note]]"reason for existence"[[/note]] is for people to appear sophisticated. [[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes Pepé Le Pew]] wouldn't fit here, as he's just a [[{{Fauxreigner}} Faux French]] who thinks that EverythingSoundsSexierInFrench. |
| 21 | |
| 22 | The linguistics blog ''Notes From A Linguistic Mystic'' has a name for this -- [[https://web.archive.org/web/20081121131709/http://linguisticmystic.com/2007/01/02/cest-toujours-la-fete-a-primer-on-unnecessary-french-syndrome/ Unnecessary French Syndrome.]] |
| 23 | |
| 24 | Check TropeNamesFromTheFrench and the Fr/DictionnaireProvisoire for ''les [[Fr/{{Schema}} schémas]] de noms francophones.''[[note]]"Naming Conventions for French-Speakers"[[/note]] |
| 25 | |
| 26 | Contrast GratuitousEnglish, which is used in France to sound, ''comme disent les anglais''[[note]]"as they say in English"[[/note]], "[[RuleOfCool cool]]". Interestingly, when GratuitousEnglish meets KeepItForeign, GratuitousFrench is a common substitute. |
| 27 | |
| 28 | This is a subtrope of GratuitousForeignLanguage and really should be used with extreme care. |
| 29 | |
| 30 | ---- |
| 31 | !!Exemples: |
| 32 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 33 | |
| 34 | [[folder:Animation occidentale (Western Animation)]] |
| 35 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'': Emily loves to randomly sprinkle her sentences with French words, due to having a French nanny and the implication that she may have some French heritage herself. Most of the time, it's unnecessary. |
| 36 | * ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'': The Clock King from [[Recap/BatmanTheAnimatedSeriesE25TheClockKing his self-named episode]] loves it. ''Adieu'', ''En garde!'', ''Au contraire''... |
| 37 | * Cartoonito's UK feed had spots where one of their mascots would say something in English, and then another one of them said it in French, and sometimes, the mascot who said the word in English would ask the viewer if they could say what they said in French. And in addition, they also had an SAP audio track in French for some of their shows. |
| 38 | * ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'': In the episode "[[Recap/GravityFallsS2E3TheGolfWar The Golf War]]", one of the {{Lilliput|ians}}tians living in the Eiffel Tower hole at Ye Royal Discount Putt Hutt randomly shouts "Je ne sais quoi, sacre bleu, au revoir!"[[note]]I don't know, holy crap, goodbye![[/note]] This is even subtitled as [[LampshadeHanging "I don't actually know French."]] |
| 39 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheLingoShow'' has a character named Jargonaise who teaches children French the same way WesternAnimation/DoraTheExplorer tries to teach children Spanish. |
| 40 | * ''WesternAnimation/MagicAdventuresOfMumfie'' had Napoleon Jones often speak French. There was even a whole episode about it. |
| 41 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Metalocalypse}}'': One episode has Nathan thanking Dethklok's French chef with "Merci. Bon cafe". |
| 42 | * ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' has this quite a bit. |
| 43 | ** More on the side of sophisticated but non-pretentious: in [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E1MareInTheMoon the first episode]], Rarity exclaims: |
| 44 | --->'''Rarity:''' Oh my stars, darling! Whatever happened to your coiffure?! |
| 45 | ** She also use "Crême de la crême" at least twice in the two first seasons. |
| 46 | ** Fluttershy's rant about Rarity's dress in "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E14SuitedForSuccess Suited for Success]]" has her use the phrases ''prêt-à-porter'' and ''haute couture''. |
| 47 | ** The voice Pinkie Pie gives [[CompanionCube Madame LeFlour]] ("her" name itself an example) in "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E25PartyOfOne Party of One]]". "Oui! Zat eez correct, madame." |
| 48 | ** Happens again in "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E6TheCutiePox The Cutie Pox]]" when Apple Bloom suddenly gets a FleurDeLis cutie mark, causing her to speak French. |
| 49 | ** Apple Bloom still speaks French in the French dub, just French from about 300 years ago. |
| 50 | --->'''Applejack:''' My sister's speakin' in Fancy! |
| 51 | ** "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E15TheSuperSpeedyCiderSqueezy6000 The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000]]" has the Flim Flam Brothers refer to themselves as traveling salesponies ''nonpareils''. |
| 52 | ** In "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS3E5MagicDuel Magic Duel]]", The Great and Powerful Trixie show off her boastfullness: |
| 53 | --->'''Trixie:''' Cheated? ''Moi?'' |
| 54 | ** And her human counterpart does it as well in the ''[[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirls Equestria Girls]]'' movie after getting some peanut butter crackers from a vending machine. |
| 55 | --->'''Trixie:''' Voilà! |
| 56 | * In the ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'' episode "Sidetracked", which takes place on the border between America and Canada, Canada's bilingualism requirement is parodied when the criminals crash through a border gate and the patrolman says, "Hey, you can't do that!" Right afterward, Perry goes after them and the border agent says, "Hey! The same thing, but in French!" |
| 57 | * ''WesternAnimation/PixieDixieAndMrJinks'': One cartoon had a runaway lion seeking Pixie and Dixie's help in hiding out from the zoo ''and'' from Mr. Jinks, who finds out a big reward is offered for the recapture of the lion. The two "meeces" disguise the lion as a French poodle whose French speaking consists of "coup de grace!" (which he mispronounces as "coop de grass" as opposed to the regular "coo de grah"). |
| 58 | -->'''Jinks:''' (''after the lion secretly ambushes him a second time'') Okay, I reiterates...what clobbered me? And don't give me any of that "cut the grass" stuff! |
| 59 | * The Franchise/{{Popeye}} cartoon "Shaving Muggs" has Popeye and Bluto getting shaved and trimmed to appease Olive Oyl. But after some double crosses, they see Olive strolling down the street with a heavily bearded fellow. As the boys proceed to kick each other in the ass: |
| 60 | -->'''Popeye:''' (''targeting his ass to Bluto'') Mon sieur Bluto...sil vous plait! (''Bluto kicks him'')\ |
| 61 | '''Bluto:''' (''targeting his to Popeye'') Sil vous plait! (''Popeye kicks him; they trade kicks into the iris out'') |
| 62 | * ''WesternAnimation/ReadyJetGo'': In the episode "[[Recap/ReadyJetGoS2E16SunspotsSunspotOurSunIsAStar Sunspot's Sunspot]]", Celery says "Bon appetit, as the French Earthies say". |
| 63 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheSecretSaturdays'': The speech of V.V. Argost, [[BigBad the big bad]], is often peppered with French. Case and point, his catchphrase, "greetings and bienvenue!" Which is said a ''lot''. |
| 64 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' loves to go about Frenchifying the characters' dialogue: |
| 65 | ** In "Cape Feare," Sideshow Bob utters "Ah, ''le mot juste''!" upon finding the perfect word for a death note to Bart. |
| 66 | ** In "Lisa's Rival," Bart describes his mischief as being "Bartesque". |
| 67 | ** When taking the family to see an artsy-fartsy French-Canadian circus in "Skinner's Sense of Snow," Lisa mentions that "We've had tickets since ''septembre''!" (which, if you're curious, is pronounced something like "sep't-OM-brrr"). |
| 68 | ** In "I Am Furious (Yellow)," Nelson lets loose an "Ah, ''le mot juste''!" as well when lauding ''Danger Dog'''s witty dialogue. |
| 69 | ** Marge once said "''Tres bien''" after hearing a menu item described to her by a waiter -- somewhat justified since she's in a fancy restaurant, and ''really'' justified when you remember that Marge's family (the Bouviers) are of French ancestry. |
| 70 | * ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' is prone to this, though we never find out why. Also, the narrator of the show speaks not only in the same voice, but with a thick French accent as a ShoutOut to Jacques Cousteau. |
| 71 | * ''WesternAnimation/WackyRaces'': The Latin-American Spanish dub occasionally has "Pierre Nodoyuna" (Dick Dastardly) doing this. |
| 72 | * ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice2010'': The French supervillain The Brain constantly inserts French words in the middle of comically accented English sentences, presumably because the producers couldn't figure out how to dress a BrainInAJar in a beret and a black-and-white striped shirt. And where would he carry the loaf of French bread? |
| 73 | [[/folder]] |
| 74 | |
| 75 | [[folder:Animés et mangas (Anime and Manga)]] |
| 76 | * ''Manga/AzumangaDaioh'': Tomo speaks French on occasion, such as when she described Osaka's yawn as "très bien". |
| 77 | ** In addition, one of Kaorin's [[ImageSong character songs]] is called "Kaze no ''Mon-Ami''" ("my friend, the wind") and in Chiyo's song "Sarabai! Happy Hen" she greets the moon with a ''bonsoir''. |
| 78 | * ''Anime/CowboyBebop'': Much of the music Yoko Kanno provided is in a weird French-ish language of her own design. Notable tunes in that language include "Cats on Mars". |
| 79 | ** The lyrics of the song "Fantaisie Sign", sung by Carla Vallet, are 100% French. |
| 80 | * ''Anime/{{Daimos}}'': Kyoshiro can speak some French since he grew up in France, and also worked as a French teacher before. Unfortunately, the lady he taight French too was rather...[[UpperClassTwit ditzy]]. |
| 81 | * ''Anime/DiGiCharat'': So gratuitous, [[InconsistentSpelling translators don't even realize it's meant to be French.]] |
| 82 | * ''Manga/Eyeshield21'' has Taki call people "monsieur" for some reason. |
| 83 | * ''Literature/TheFamiliarOfZero'': If you pause the player at the beginning of the fourth episode, you can read the letter to the principal. While it's not exactly bad French, the grammar is a bit off sometimes. |
| 84 | * ''Manga/TheFiveStarStories'' features this when Lachesis' true form is revealed. |
| 85 | * ''Manga/FoodWars'': Since FrenchCuisineIsHaughty, several chefs who specialize in it use a lot of French rather than Japanese words: |
| 86 | ** Roland Chapelle, Totsuki's French Cooking teacher, is actually ''from'' France. The humor comes from Soma being unable to understand his French words (when Chapelle said "apprentis", Soma thought he said "Apple Tea"). He couldn't even correctly pronounce "Beef Bourguignon". |
| 87 | ** Kojiro Shinomiya occasionally uses French phrases, such as saying "recette" instead of recipe, and sarcastically refers to Gin as ''Monsieur'' when accepting the unofficial Shokugeki. Somehow, he manages to do this even when he's actually speaking French in France. |
| 88 | * ''Manga/FruitsBasket'': In the English dub of the anime, there is a line shouted by either Shigure or Ayame that sounds suspiciously like the French equivalent of "THE AIRPLANE! WHERE IS THE BATHTUB?" In the original Japanese, they shout "Je t'aime, mon amour! Bon voyage!" -- "I love you, my love! have a nice trip!" |
| 89 | * The anime ''Anime/{{Gankutsuou}}'' has some French at the beginning of each episode. {{Justified|Trope}} as based on ''Literature/TheCountOfMonteCristo'', a French novel by Creator/AlexandreDumas, that is mostly set in France. |
| 90 | * In ''Anime/GaoGaiGarFINAL'', after literally burning Mikoto due to her overheating body, Rune Cardiff Shishioh just walks off saying "Nice to meet you" in French. "Bonjour. Merci. Comment allez-vous?" Hello. Thank you. How are you?" She also adds "Au Revoir" in ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsW''. |
| 91 | * ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'': France native Jean-Pierre Polnareff loves using these, especially if there's [[TheCasanova a lady around.]] It's a bit more common in the English dub. |
| 92 | ** A Stand in Part 8 is known as "Les Feuilles" when officially translated; except its name is quite clearly the English phrase "Autumn Leaves". |
| 93 | * ''Manga/HonooNoAlpenRose'' is set in Switzerland, so it features signs and newspapers in both German and French. For example, here's Lundi and Jeudi's [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wanted_6.png Wanted Poster]]. |
| 94 | ** Lundi is from a French-speakinng part of Switzerland and mentions that he gave Jeudi the name Jeudi because it means "Thursday" - and when he found Jeudi in the aftermath of a dangerous plane crash, it was Thursday. |
| 95 | * ''Anime/IsabelleOfParis'': Since this work is set in France, the newspapers are in French, and the characters sometimes uses French phrases. Main character Isabelle can sometimes be heard speaking it in Creator/MamiKoyama's adorable Japanese accent. |
| 96 | * ''Anime/KillLaKill'': Setting aside the catch phrase "La vie est drôle," Harime Nui sprinkles French in her words a few times. One of her attacks is even in French: [[SelfDuplication "Mon mignon prêt-à-porter"]] |
| 97 | * ''Anime/LaSeineNoHoshi'' takes place in 1800s France on the verge of the French Revolution, so naturally it features this. Even the main character's name makes use of this trope and GratuitousJapanese - La Seine No Hoshi - means "The Star No Hoshi" --> Star of the Seine. |
| 98 | * ''Manga/TheKindaichiCaseFiles'': Early on in a case arc, Akechi greets a native French speaker (a French model) with fluent French before the latter clarifies that she has stayed in Japan long enough to be able to communicate well in Japanese. |
| 99 | * ''Anime/MagicalShoppingArcadeAbenobashi'': Arumi's father quite often uses this trope as he's a chief who specializes in French cuisine. |
| 100 | * ''Manga/MarchComesInLikeALion'': The insert song that plays in the first episode while Rei is heading to the Sendagaya Shogi Hall for his match against his adoptive father is completely in French. Why Shaft chose a French song to play while the protagonist is walking through one of Tokyo's wards is not entirely clear, especially when the series as a whole is dedicated to a game whose popularity is almost entirely restricted within Japan. |
| 101 | * ''Anime/MarginalPrince'' features Henri-Hugues de Saint Germain, Paris-born member of a French noble family. In an international boarding school surrounding where English is presumed to be the language of consent, he throws in some French here and there, most notably when drawing his [[TarotMotifs tarot cards]] (which are in French, of course) or when commenting on other characters' behaviour. The latter makes him much a FrenchJerk, especially in [[HotBlooded Alfred's]] eyes. |
| 102 | * ''Literature/MariaWatchesOverUs'' is full of this. In the omake Yumi's seiyuu pronounces "(Rosa foetida) en bouton" better than Yoshino's, who "corrects" her, since she is supposed to be bilingual French-Japanese. |
| 103 | * In the anime adaptation of ''Manga/MariaTheVirginWitch'', at least in the English dub, the dialogue is peppered with French all over the place, such as "oui" or "ne c'est pas?" The series takes place in France during UsefulNotes/TheHundredYearsWar and the characters responsible [[TranslationConvention are technically speaking French anyway.]] This is not done for the English characters. |
| 104 | * ''Anime/MischievousTwinsTheTalesOfStClares'': St. Clare's teaches French as a second language[[note]]Just like RealLife British schools[[/note]], and both Patricia and Isabel are very fluent in the language. St. Clare's also has the French teacher, Mademoiselle, who doesn't speak English that well and tends to speak in her native language. |
| 105 | * ''Manga/MonsterMusume'': One of Rachnera Arachnera's {{Image Song}}s is titled ''Belle Sadique'', meaning "Beautiful Sadist", a fitting description for the sexy [[SpiderPeople arachne]]. It also counts for EverythingSoundsSexierInFrench. |
| 106 | * ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'': As part of his flamboyant personality, Yuga Aoyama (who is in no way actually French) tends to pepper his speech with French words. For instance, if he hears people talking about him, he'll often say "Are you talking about ''moi''?" |
| 107 | * Everywhere in ''Manga/OishiiKankei'', since it's a manga focusing on French cuisine restaurants in Japan. |
| 108 | * ''Manga/OnePiece'': |
| 109 | ** Sanji has Gratuitous French in his attack names (all of which are cuisine-based), though most of them were mangled in the 4Kids dub (but restored in the Funimation dub). |
| 110 | ** Also, [[DanceBattler Mr. 2]] [[WholesomeCrossdresser Bon Clay]]. |
| 111 | ** And Nico Robin, though it's only ever the one word, combined with healthy doses of GratuitousSpanish and GratuitousEnglish |
| 112 | ** Don't forget Franky. [[{{Fartillery}} Coup de Boo!]] |
| 113 | * ''Manga/OuranHighSchoolHostClub'': Tamaki is half-French, half-Japanese, and loves to say how Kyouya is "[son] ami!!!!" With the tonic accent on "a" instead of "mi". Creator/CaitlinGlass lampshaded in the commentary that the French speakers wouldn't have been very happy had the English dub kept that. |
| 114 | * ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries'': Fantina peppers her speech with French phrases in the English dub. In the original Japanese, she peppers her speech with [[GratuitousEnglish English]] instead. |
| 115 | ** Cabernet/Burgundy from ''Black and White'' does this quite often, often times coming with a BilingualBonus. Just about every other word of hers is in French. |
| 116 | ** This also reveals that [[TeamChef Cilan]] speaks French as well, most notably during their tasting time duet. They shot off back and forth either speaking in figurative English or French. |
| 117 | ** Eureka/Bonnie in the Japanese version of ''X and Y'' when trying to get a girlfriend for her brother, always asks them ''s’il vous plaît''. |
| 118 | * ''Anime/PrettyCure'': |
| 119 | ** In Episode 5 of ''Anime/HeartcatchPrettyCure'', Cobraja uses the French words "non, non" and "adieu". |
| 120 | ** In the first episode of ''Anime/SmilePrecure'', Akane briefly says "merci beaucoup" while returning to her desk. |
| 121 | ** One of the LINE stickers based on ''Anime/DokiDokiPrecure'' has one of [[https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/prettycure/images/9/9d/DDPC_LINE_19.png/revision/latest?cb=20170624111349 Cure Ace]] saying "adieu". |
| 122 | ** In ''Anime/HugttoPrettyCure'', all of the Cures sans Cure Yell have a French name; Cure Ange ("angel"), Cure Etoile ("star"), Cure Macherie ("my dear"), and Cure Amour ("love"). |
| 123 | * ''Anime/PrettySammy'': In the English-dubbed version of the OAV, Pixy Misa would speak French words and phrases. |
| 124 | * ''Anime/RebuildOfEvangelion'': Most of the track titles on the soundtracks are in French. Either that or they're a mess of numbers, letters, and underscores. |
| 125 | * ''Anime/RevolutionaryGirlUtena'', aka ''La Fillette Révolutionnaire Utena''. |
| 126 | * ''Manga/RosarioToVampire [=Capu2=]'': Koumori Nazo hypnotizes people by saying "Je t'aime" while looking directly in their eyes, which not only works on girls, but also on boys. He says it so often that he got his own ImageSong with that phrase. |
| 127 | * [[TheMerch A Japanese CD]] called ''Manga/SailorMoon Super S in Paris'' is [[http://sailormusic.net/tracks/Paris.html made of this trope.]] The lyrics are nonsense most of the time, being versions of the Japanese lyrics with French peppered in. |
| 128 | * ContinuityReboot ''Anime/SailorMoonCrystal'', despite being more prone to English borrowings, has the French phrase, ''A Suivre'' on its ToBeContinued card, to go along with Creator/AlphonseMucha-esque ArtNouveau imagery. |
| 129 | * ''VideoGame/SakuraWars'': In the OVA ''École de Paris'', the characters speak in French at least for the first few minutes, which doubles as BilingualBonus. |
| 130 | * ''VisualNovel/SchoolDays'': In the ''Magical Heart Kokoro-chan'' OVA, Setsuna (who leaves to study abroad in the main series) plays the part of a mad scientist with a penchant for French phrases. |
| 131 | * ''Anime/StarDriver'' has a number of French terms: all the Star Swords are named after precious stones in French (Emeraude, Saphir, Diamant, etc.), all pilots activate their Cybody with a cry of "Apprivoiser!", and several characters have French-derived names, such as Ivronge and Simone. |
| 132 | * ''Literature/StrawberryPanic'' has this all over the place. Tamao often cites brutal French phrases related to the Etoile system. (Fortunately, most of the girls at least say "Étoile" passably.) French is actually a required subject at Miator, but this hasn't helped Shizuma and Rokujou's pronunciation much; pity poor Nagisa, who's getting extra help from them. |
| 133 | * All written text in the anime of ''Literature/SundayWithoutGod'' is in French. |
| 134 | * ''Anime/SuperGALS! Kotobuki Ran'' has Kuroi Tatsuki use a few French words. |
| 135 | * ''Anime/TenchiInTokyo'': In one English-dubbed episode, Ayeka spoke French upon meeting BadassBiker Masayo. |
| 136 | %%* ''Manga/TokyoGhoul'': Shuu Tsukiyama. That is all.%%It is not all. Elaboration is needed. |
| 137 | * ''Anime/WolfsRain'': The song "Valse de la Lune" from the soundtrack is also completely in French. |
| 138 | * ''Anime/VoltesV'': If you speak French, you'll catch a lot of this trope when in regards to the Boazanian Empire, an [[GalacticConquerer Alien Empire]] that's a FantasyCounterpartCulture to France. Their name, ''Boazan''ians, is derived from the French word "Voisin" (neighbour), and Prince Gohl's name is derived from "Gaul" (name for olden France). |
| 139 | * ''Franchise/YuGiOh'': |
| 140 | ** Napoleon (a.k.a. Bonaparte) in ''Anime/YuGiOhGX'' peppers his speech with rather poor French phrases. |
| 141 | ** Sherry Leblanc from ''Yu-Gi-Oh 5D's''. Her name is bad enough, but her ace monster's name is "Fleur de Chevalier", which (because it is grammatically incorrect) literally means "Flower of Knight" "Fleur du Chevalier" is the corrent name. The English game translates it as "Chevalier de Fleur", or (again, due to grammar) "Knight of Flower". |
| 142 | *** The only context where "Fleur de chevalier" could be correct is if you somehow plant a Knight, who'd latter blossom once Springs arrive. (One can only wonder then what a "Fruit de Chevalier" looks like) |
| 143 | [[/folder]] |
| 144 | [[folder:Bandes dessinées (Comic Books)]] |
| 145 | * Doubling as a BilingualBonus: In one issue of ''[[ComicBook/JusticeLeague Justice League Europe]]'', as ComicBook/{{Superman}} flies over Paris, various people point at him and shout, "Est un oiseau! Est un avion! Non, est Super-Homme!" Superman admits to himself, [[PhraseCatcher "I never get tired of hearing that."]] However, it’s a rather odd BilingualBonus, since poor grammar causes said shouts to be the French equivalent of "Is a Bird! Is a Plane! No, is Superman!". Which makes no sense (it should be "c'est" instead of "est"). |
| 146 | * ''ComicBook/Robin1993'': When Tim Drake first arrives in Paris to meet with a martial arts instructor there is a bit of untranslated French to help show the isolation caused by the language barrier but all subsequent French is translated to English and italicized. |
| 147 | * ''ComicBook/{{Rocky}}'': Rocky and Manny subvert the trope while discussing Rocky's then current girlfriend. |
| 148 | -->'''Rocky''': I mean, I like Emily, but her sister has a certain... ''je ne sais quoi''...\ |
| 149 | '''Manny''': Does ''je ne sais quoi'' mean "huge bouncy tits" in French or something? |
| 150 | [[/folder]] |
| 151 | |
| 152 | [[folder:Bandes dessinées de journaux (Comic Strips)]] |
| 153 | * Roz Chast drew "The Man who was Admired for his Lack of Lack of Pretense", depicting a man decked out in smoking jacket, ascot and cigarette holder, in his apartment scattered with ''objets d'arte''[[note]]literally, "Objects of art" (except it should be "art", written like the English and pronounced without the "t"), often used in the sense of "expensive knickknacks"[[/note]] on pedestals - he's saying to us "Let's only speak French for a while." |
| 154 | * One early strip from Bloom County had a character named Limekiller charms an old lady by saying "Madame, vos lobes d'oreilles ressemblent à des têtes de poissons." In the last panel, he tells Milo Bloom he said "Your earlobes look like fish heads", which is the correct translation. |
| 155 | * Many characters in ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'' have a penchant for saying "''Au contraire!''" when told something they disagree with. Snoopy says it most often, but Linus and even Woodstock have been known to use it. |
| 156 | [[/folder]] |
| 157 | |
| 158 | [[folder:Bandes dessinées en ligne (Webcomics)]] |
| 159 | * ''[[Fanfic/CodePonyEvolution Code: Pony Evolution]]'' has this with the "Fancy" spells that require you to say things to make them work. In Gratuitous French (actually a TranslationConvention for some unearthly language, just like all characters are speaking French in English). |
| 160 | * Aimee Mouffette from ''[[http://www.monsterful.com/ Monsterful]]'', justified since she seems to come from a fictional version of Paris, the monster city of Vamparis, in other words she's french so to speak. |
| 161 | * ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'': |
| 162 | ** Gilgamesh Wulfenbach spent some time in Paris and thus is fluent in French. He doesn't usually put Gratuitous French in his speech, but [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20090720 there was this one time he was delirious...]] |
| 163 | -->'''Gil''': Pardonnez-moi, Monsieur, mais où est la catastrophe?[[note]]Excuse me, sir, but where's the catastrophe?[[/note]] |
| 164 | ** [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20111014 One exit door of Castle Heterodyne]] has the inscription "''Fuyez les dangers de loisir''" ("Flee the dangers of leisure") above the frame. |
| 165 | ** There's a sub-trend for characters using French to invoke the inherent sophistication, and butchering it. ("Ve get heem fixed op '''''toot sveety!''''' [-Dot's French!-]") |
| 166 | --->'''Guard:''' "Mighty generous" says I, but "no bless obli cheese," says he.\ |
| 167 | '''Master Payne:''' ...''Does he?''\ |
| 168 | '''Guard:''' All the time. |
| 169 | ** In the "Revenge of the Weasel Queen" side-story, the blueprint for the Giant Rabbit/MiniMecha costume made by the tailor clank has its captions entirely in (surprisingly accurate) French. |
| 170 | * The magic incantations on [[http://garanos.alexheberling.com/pages/page-86/ this page]] of ''Webcomic/{{Garanos}}''. Of course, even for a native French speaker, they are hard to decipher due to a combination of nigh-unreadable font, light effects and bad grammar. |
| 171 | * ''Webcomic/MenageA3'': |
| 172 | ** The title of the comic, although French, is justified in that it has a long history of use by English-speakers. Here, though, it's used as a sort of bilingual pun; English speakers may take it as having sexual implications, appropriately enough for this sex comedy comic, but in French, its literal meaning is "household of three", which describes the basic set-up of the comic. |
| 173 | ** The French-Canadian [=DiDi=] peppers her speech with French. The author is herself a Francophone, so it's all quite accurate, but [[PoirotSpeak it's all limited to the sort of basic language that anyone who's taken middle school French will know, but which anyone halfway fluent in English -- as [=DiDi=] apparently is -- should avoid]]. A potential HandWave is to write it off as a personal quirk on [=DiDi's=] part, perhaps reaffirming her cultural identity in an Anglophone environment, the simplicity of the language therefore being justified by the same need to retain effective communication which the writer faces. |
| 174 | * ''Webcomic/DarthsAndDroids'' made the decision to give Count Dooku an atrocious faux-French accent. This reached its height when he tried to say coup de grâce...with a French pronunciation. Ben was quick to point out the redundancy. |
| 175 | * ''[[http://vimeo.com/10593465 En Deuil]]'', LeFilmArtistique featured on the ''Webcomic/DresdenCodak'' page on AprilFoolsDay 2010. (There is also the GratuitousGerman sequel ''[[http://vimeo.com/39131013 A Work in Progress]]'', from AprilFoolsDay two years later.) |
| 176 | * L'Academie du Chapeaux and its BadassCrew branch, La Brigade du Chapeaux from ''Webcomic/{{Kukuburi}}'' are led by Rendo, who despite his QuintessentialBritishGentleman image peppers his speech generously with French phrases. |
| 177 | * In ''Webcomic/TheWordWeary'', [[http://wordwearycomic.blogspot.com/2011/05/12-may-2011.html John speaks French]] during the characters' Dungeons and Dragons game. The other players are quick to make fun of him for trying to sound pretentious. |
| 178 | * Episode 51 of ''Webcomic/{{Wonderlab}}'' has Daisy refer to themself as "La Mignonne" (The Cutie). |
| 179 | * ''Webcomic/TheInexplicableAdventuresOfBob'' has Monsieur Elmo, the beleaguered owner of a French restaurant in Generictown, and he talks like this. There's also the mad Dr. Amad de Madémad, a MadScientist from Quebec who speaks in a combination of this and WesternAnimation/PepeLePew-style mock French. |
| 180 | [[/folder]] |
| 181 | |
| 182 | [[folder:Blagues (Jokes)]] |
| 183 | * This little gem: |
| 184 | --> An American goes into a restaurant in Paris and says:\ |
| 185 | - I'd like to order le steak and le fries.\ |
| 186 | The waiter replies:\ |
| 187 | - Thank god I'm American too, because otherwise you would be eating le shit. |
| 188 | ** Bizarrely enough, "shit" has been borrowed into French — [[InMyLanguageThatSoundsLike to mean "marijuana."]] |
| 189 | [[/folder]] |
| 190 | |
| 191 | [[folder:Catch (Pro Wrestling)]] |
| 192 | * In Wrestling/AllEliteWrestling, the promotion's first world champion Wrestling/ChrisJericho called himself ''Le Champion'' for a time. (Later {{averted|Trope}} with [[IHaveManyNames "The Demo God", "The Wizard", "The Ocho"...]]) |
| 193 | [[/folder]] |
| 194 | |
| 195 | [[folder:Cinéma d'animation (Films -- Animation)]] |
| 196 | * In ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles1'', Bomb Voyage refers to Mr. Incredible ''Monsieur Incroyable''.[[note]]A literal translation of "incredible" that ''isn't used in the official French dub'': The French dub of the movie is ''Les Indestructibles''.[[/note]] He only speaks in French and his lines clearly indicate the disdain he has for the appearance of Mr. Incredible and "[=IncrediBoy=]", as well as mocking Buddy's outfit. |
| 197 | * ''WesternAnimation/Shrek1'': Robin Hood, who despite being a British folklore character aligned ''against'' French speaking Normans, uses some French words and speaks with a French accent for no particular reason (though some incarnations do have Robin as a lord of the Norman aristocracy). |
| 198 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheIllusionauts'' (''Freedom Force'' in the US) does a lot to remind you where the setting is. 'Tis annoying after a while, non? |
| 199 | * In ''WesternAnimation/TurningRed'', when Mei imagines Robaire as a mermaid, he says "Mon amour" ("My love"). |
| 200 | [[/folder]] |
| 201 | |
| 202 | [[folder:Cinéma en prise de vue réelle (Films -- Live-Action)]] |
| 203 | * The title of the upcoming ''Film/{{Joker|2019}}'' sequel is ''Folie à Deux'' ("Madness for Two" in French). |
| 204 | * Swearing in the ''Film/TheMatrixReloaded'': |
| 205 | -->'''The Merovingian:''' Château Haut-Brion 1959, magnificent wine, I love French wine, like I love the French language. I have sampled every language, French is my favourite - fantastic language, especially to curse with.'' Nom de Dieu de putain de bordel de merde de saloperie de connard d'enculé de ta mère. ''My God, it's like wiping your ass with silk, I love it.\ |
| 206 | :: For French Cursing 101 and an analysis of this sentence, just check [[http://www.medinoc.fr/web/divers/Understanding%20French%20insults.htm here]]. In the French version of the movie, the Merovingian still speaks French. (Cue most French viewers almost expecting the characters to look at each other, giggle and go, "Yeah... ''And''?") |
| 207 | * Spoofed in ''Film/AustinPowersInternationalManOfMystery'': "He has what the French call a certain... I don't know what." FridgeBrilliance: "je ne sais quoi", used to mean "An intangible quality that makes something distinctive or attractive" in English directly translates to "I don't know what" in French. He also says "I don't know what" with the same emphasis one would use with "je ne sais quoi." |
| 208 | * Played for laughs in the buddy cop film ''Film/BonCopBadCop'' (which deals with two cops from Quebec and Ontario) with a ''bilingual'' ClusterFBomb: "Shit de fuck de shit de merde de shit de câlisse de TABARNAC!" |
| 209 | * In ''Film/TheAddamsFamily'', Gomez goes wild with passion whenever Morticia [[EverythingSoundsSexierInFrench speaks French]]. The French dubbing [[KeepItForeign switches this to Spanish]]. |
| 210 | * In ''Film/Batman1989'' The Joker enjoys pronouncing a few phrases in French as part of his WickedCultured persona. |
| 211 | * ''Film/IntolerableCruelty'': [[FunnyForeigner Heinz, the Baron Krauss Von Espy]] says Marilyn Rexroth (played by Catherine Zeta-Jones) asked him for ''"a man whom she could herself brazenly cuckold, until such time as she might choose to, we would say,'' 'faire un coup de marteau sur des fesses.'" (Intended translation: nail his ass; literal translation: do a hammer blow on butts; Baron's own translation: Make hammer on his fanny.) |
| 212 | * ''Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail'': ''"Fetchez la vache!"''. Note that "Fetchez" is not an actual verb, but that was probably on purpose. And it's still shorter than the proper French for it ("Amenez la vache" or "Allez chercher la vache"). It's a case of ''Franglish'' actually. The verb "to fetch" was mixed with the French suffix _ez. |
| 213 | * The Italian dub of their previous feature film, ''Film/AndNowForSomethingCompletelyDifferent'', translates the policeman's utterance of "What's all this, then?" in the Dirty Hungarian Phrasebook sketch as "Bonjour!" for some reason. |
| 214 | * In ''Film/EvesBayou'', the characters often speak in French or Creole because it takes place in Louisiana. |
| 215 | * In ''Film/TradingPlaces'', when Eddie Murphy's character is confronted in a bar and is called a motherfucker, he responds with "Motherfucker? ''Moi?''" |
| 216 | * For no other reason but to make Creator/ConstanceBennett be even sexier, she sings a random French song in ''Film/WhatPriceHollywood'' |
| 217 | * The ''Film/TradingPlaces'' example gets a ShoutOut in ''Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay'' as a young John Connor enquires: ''"Dipshit? Did you just call'' moi ''a dipshit?"'' |
| 218 | * The title of ''Film/HotShotsPartDeux''. |
| 219 | * To get the effect of French Creole speakers in TheFeastOfAllSaints without using subtitles, the characters speak predominately English with French accents, liberally sprinkled with French/Creole. |
| 220 | * It's generally the opposite in Canada where French Canadians have traditionally been an underclass. This leads to an inversion in ''Film/TheRocket'' when the Anglophone coach congratulates his Francophone players for winning the Stanley Cup in French. It's seen as a surprising moment of him lowering himself to show his appreciation. |
| 221 | * In ''Film/KateAndLeopold'', Leopold hears that Kate's boss speaks French fluently, so he says something in French to show that the man doesn't know what he's talking about. Then Leopold says that he doesn't know that much French actually so he had probably said the only line in French that he knows. |
| 222 | * Averted in ''Film/DjangoUnchained'': Plantation owner Candie has a ForeignCultureFetish for the French, demanding to be called "Monsieur" Candie, but doesn't speak it at all (and doesn't like people speaking it to him). The only French sentence spoken in the movie (by Dr. Schultz) is perfectly correct. |
| 223 | * ''Film/PrincessOfThieves'': Milder than most, but the Baroness, who is loyal to Prince John, speaks with a French accent and threw in the occasional French term. |
| 224 | * For reasons attributable only to indie film quirkiness, the entire soundtrack of ''Film/RubySparks'' consists of French songs. |
| 225 | * ''Film/AnEducation'': Used often by Jenny, out of the blue and [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] bluntly by Helen: |
| 226 | -->'''Helen:''' You have a French conversation teacher? Is that why you suddenly speak French? For no reason? |
| 227 | * A somewhat perplexing example from [[Film/LesMiserables2012 the 2012 film of Les Misérables]], with a crowd shouting "Vive la France!". Fair enough, until you realise that they're all French, and they live in France, so their French is already being translated into English. What language is that? |
| 228 | * From ''Film/FerrisBuellersDayOff'': "Les jeux sont faits."[[labelnote:Translation]]The game is up. Your ass is mine.[[/labelnote]] |
| 229 | * In ''Film/{{Cinderella 2015}}'', Ella is fluent in French, since her father has taught her since she was a child. Lady Tremaine and her daughters are perplexed to discover that Ella pronounces and makes complete sentences ''better than them'', to the point that Drisella and Anastasia think she is speaking "Italian". |
| 230 | * In ''Film/{{Call Me By Your Name}}'', characters all speak French among each other, including the protagonist's parents. Helps that most of the cast is actually French. |
| 231 | * Played for laughs in the made for TV film ''Safety Patrol'' (1998), wherein the protagonist, Scout, tries to invoke this while he is in reality speaking [[GratuitousSpanish Spanish]], including using ''mano a mano'' in the wrong context. The nurse likewise interprets his Spanish as French. The villain speaks actual gratuitous French (''moi'', ''vous''), but like Scout's Spanish, the words are applied incorrectly. |
| 232 | * ''Film/{{Colette}}'': At some point Colette calls her dog "Tommy chien". Chien is French for dog, but nobody would say that (the French don't do SpeciesSurname). |
| 233 | * ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanAtWorldsEnd'': The sea goddess Calypso, upon being released from her confinement, shouts ([[PowerMakesYourVoiceDeep in an extremely booming voice]]) "Malfaiteur en Tombeau, Crochir l'Esplanade, Dans l'Fond d'l'eau!"[[note]]Across all the seas, find the path to he who wrongfully entombed me![[/note]]. A rare case where French is used as a BlackSpeech, instead of for sexy reasons. |
| 234 | * The Sugar Plum Fairy from ''Film/TheNutcrackerAndTheFourRealms'' uses a lot of French words (i.e. exactement, chic, au revoir) |
| 235 | * ''Film/ZackSnydersJusticeLeague'': In the BadFuture, upon hearing Mera's misguided assumption that Batman doesn't know what it's like to lose loved ones, the Joker laughs and says "''Au contraire''[[note]]"Quite the contrary [[/note]], my little fish stick." |
| 236 | * In the opening scene of ''Film/PulpFiction'', Pumpkin summons the waitress in pretentious French: "''Garçon!'' Coffee!" The waitress refills his coffee, but points out that "'garçon' means boy." |
| 237 | * ''Film/DoctorSeries'': |
| 238 | ** In ''Film/DoctorAtLarge'', Sir Charles struggles to use some French words on holiday: |
| 239 | --->'''Sir Charles''': Oh, pardon, madame, er mad-mademoiselle. |
| 240 | ** ''Film/DoctorInClover'': Dr. Grimsdyke uses a few French words in his attempts to ask out Jeannine. |
| 241 | * ''Film/PleaseTurnOver'': [[FrenchMaid Madeline]] in ''Naked Revolt'' often speaks in French. As Rita mentions her family has French blood, presumably the Gaunts can understand her when she does so: |
| 242 | -->'''Madeline''': I do not understand. I know not if I am on my derrière or my elbow. |
| 243 | * ''Film/NoKidding'': |
| 244 | ** Vanilla speaks a few words of French to Henri to try and flirt with him. Henri speaks a little back in return. |
| 245 | ** David warns Henri there is to be no more "amour" with Vanilla. |
| 246 | * Madame Monique from ''Film/UpTheFront'' uses a few French phrases such as "Mon Dieu". |
| 247 | [[/folder]] |
| 248 | |
| 249 | [[folder:Flippers (Pinball)]] |
| 250 | * The Ringmasters in ''Pinball/CirqusVoltaire'' speak this. |
| 251 | [[/folder]] |
| 252 | |
| 253 | [[folder:Jeu de rôle (Roleplay)]] |
| 254 | * [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]] with Valentin "Val" Trémaux in ''Roleplay/CradleOfGods'', who hails from a FantasyCounterpartCulture of France. He usually uses English, but tends to revert to (surprisingly accurate) French in times of high emotion or stress. |
| 255 | [[/folder]] |
| 256 | |
| 257 | [[folder:Jeux de table (Tabletop Games)]] |
| 258 | * English TabletopGame/{{Chess}} terms in particular borrowed quite a bit from French, including ''en passant'' capture ("in passing") and ''en prise'' (under attack). |
| 259 | * Ambuscade (and by proxy Stuntman, his heroic variant) in ''TabletopGame/SentinelsOfTheMultiverse'', who is a former French action movie actor and drops French phrase after phrase in his card names and flavor text. It's a bit zig-zagged, though. On the one hand the creators don't speak French themselves. On the other hand, they do consult a writer who actually is French on the matter, [[RealityIsUnrealistic though fans often accuse them of not getting it right anyway]]. On the third hand they just as often deliberately get it wrong anyway (including deliberately mispronouncing Ambuscade's codename) since "it's not funny to be accurate all the time". |
| 260 | * ''TabletopGame/WarhammerFantasy'': The feudal country of Bretonnia is equal parts Arthurian myth and medieval France, so naturally the French is of variable quality (being based on medieval French doesn't help either). |
| 261 | ** One minor character named Gui le Gros is meant to be a Little John ShoutOut, but "gros" is closer to "fat" than "big". |
| 262 | ** One seaport is named L'anguille (the eel) and another Bordeleaux (a take on the actual port town of Bordeaux, both of which come from "waterside"). |
| 263 | ** The duchy of Couronne (literally "Crown") is the capital city, Quenelles is named after a fish recipe, while the real-life CitadelCity of Carcassonne gets expanded to an entire duchy of ProudWarriorRaceGuys. |
| 264 | [[/folder]] |
| 265 | |
| 266 | [[folder:Jeux vidéo (Video Games)]] |
| 267 | * Passepartout in ''VideoGame/EightyDays'' curses in French (merde!) and sticks to 'monsieur' and 'madame' when referring to people, mainly just because he can be a tad patriotic. |
| 268 | * [[CampGay Not-gay-at-all]] chef Jean Armstrong speaks almost exclusively in these in the third ''Franchise/AceAttorney'' game. Played with when he begins to break down on the stand -- he throws [[GratuitousSpanish "Por favor"]] into the mix, only to find out that The Judge speaks Spanish and calls him on it. Of course, he mostly adds "le" before nouns, even nouns that are feminine in French. |
| 269 | %%* Kindle from ''VideoGame/AdvanceWars''. |
| 270 | %%* [[VideoGame/BackyardSports "Bonjour! My name's Billy Jean Blackwood!"]] |
| 271 | * Segundo from ''VideoGame/BeyondGoodAndEvil'' mixes Gratuitous French, GratuitousSpanish, and GratuitousItalian in a fairly random way. He doesn't just do so in English. The other dubs also portray him with a strange mishmash of accents and vocabulary, but with bonus [[GratuitousEnglish Gratuitous Anglicisms]], too! |
| 272 | * Magnolia Arch in ''VideoGame/BravelySecond'' peppers her dialogue with this in the English localization. In the Japanese version, she speaks GratuitousEnglish instead. |
| 273 | * Parodied in ''VideoGame/BreathOfDeathVII'' with the supposedly French zombie Erik, who every now and then blurts out "LE BRAINS!" (by the way, it should be "Les cerveaux"). |
| 274 | * In the instruction manual for ''VideoGame/BrutalLegend'', the description for a GrimReaper unit lists a number of synonyms for death, including "petite mort", which is literally French for "little death". Unfortunately (or [[RatedMForManly possibly intentionally]]), it's also an idiom for "orgasm", which is hopefully not related [[NightmareFetishist to the monster in question]]. |
| 275 | * One of the preps in ''VideoGame/{{Bully}}'' refers to himself as ''nouveau riche'' because he's ashamed to admit that his father is a self-made man. |
| 276 | * Almost every line from Harle in ''VideoGame/ChronoCross''. The foppish FakeUltimateHero Pierre peppers his speech with French as well. |
| 277 | * In ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry4'', Mission 2 is titled "Le Porte De L'Enfer", French for "The HellGate" (literally "The Door of Hell") only with the wrong article. |
| 278 | * Mid-Boss from ''VideoGame/DisgaeaHourOfDarkness'' is fond of using "moi" in place of "me" during his [[LargeHam dramatic speeches]], simply because it sounds exotic. |
| 279 | ** The original script had him using GratuitousEnglish as well, which obviously wouldn't work if translated literally. |
| 280 | ** He uses Gratuitous French in the original script as well, saying "Mademoiselle". |
| 281 | * There is a Japan-only PlatformGame for the [[UsefulNotes/TurboGrafx16 PC Engine CD]] known as ''VideoGame/FausseteAmour'' ("False Love"). |
| 282 | * In the Japanese version of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'', Lightning's real name is [[spoiler:Éclair Farron. Éclair means "lightning" in French. The English release changed it to Claire, likely because English speakers equate the word "éclair" with a type of pastry rather than a lightning strike]]. |
| 283 | * ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoViceCity'': Rarely, Haitian gang members will say "Attention!" during fights, using the French pronunciation ("attention" means "Beware" or "Watch out" in French). Cortez's French courier and the French commandos sent to kill him also [[PoirotSpeak pepper their dialogue with stock French words]]. |
| 284 | * ''VideoGame/IWasATeenageExocolonist'': If Marz greets you on your 16th birthday, she says that she doesn't care about her bedhead because it's "''tres'' chic". |
| 285 | * ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'': |
| 286 | ** [[DarkActionGirl Larxene]]'s weapons in ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts358DaysOver2'' all have French names. And she's seen reading a book about Creator/MarquisDeSade in ''Manga/KingdomHeartsChainOfMemories''. This usage is notably in contrast to the theme of the other Original Generation, which is almost entirely [[GratuitousItalian Italian]]. |
| 287 | ** [[ArtificialHuman Xion]]'s theme is titled "Musique pour la tristesse de Xion" (music for the sadness of Xion). |
| 288 | ** "[[WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDameDisney La Cité des Cloches]]" in ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts3DDreamDropDistance'', which means "The City of Bells". Justified, as it's based on Paris. |
| 289 | * The ''VideoGame/{{Marathon}}'' GameMod ''Courier 11'' has two levels with gratuitous French names: "Le plein de super"(Fill it up with super, said to gas/petrol station attendants), and "Deja vu, s'il vous plait"(Already seen, if you please). |
| 290 | * The Coin Block people in ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiBowsersInsideStory'' speak in a French accent. Broque Monsieur might count as a FrenchJerk in that he hates Mario for "lowering the value" of Blocks and will tell him to scram if he comes by his shop. Although when generic NPC versions of their species appear in ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiDreamTeam'', they speak normally; Broques Monsieur and Madame retain their accents. |
| 291 | %%* Ruby Heart in ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom2''. Or at least it's supposed to be French. You can barely tell. |
| 292 | * In ''VideoGame/TheMatrixPathOfNeo'' the Merovingian is prone to this when he get's angry, also see ''Film/TheMatrixReloaded'' example above. |
| 293 | * ''VideoGame/MegaManZero'' and ''VideoGame/MegaManZX'' series uses a ''lot'' of French words for names of characters, and they even throw in a few ThemeNaming here and there: Characters from ''Zero'''s LaResistance are named after birds (their leader, Ciel, is French for sky), refugees in Area Zero are named after weathers (including their unofficial leader, Neige, snow), the Guardians are named after terrains (such as their leader, Prairie). Even their OST also gets on on the fun, with a few tracks such as [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EilBhhRCfrw Grand Nuage]] (great cloud). |
| 294 | * Mostly justified in the ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' series: |
| 295 | ** The "Les Enfants Terribles" project, named after Creator/JeanCocteau's novel of the same name. |
| 296 | ** "Militaires Sans Frontières" is a [[{{Pun}} Médecins sans Frontières pun]]. |
| 297 | ** Pieuvre Armement's name and motto "Les tentacules de la pieuvre pour votre guerre!"[[note]]Arms of the octopus, arms for your war![[/note]] is because it's based in France. |
| 298 | * ''VideoGame/NightTrap'' has Mr. Martin saying a couple of these, either because he is French or is trying to sound like it. |
| 299 | * Waka in ''VideoGame/{{Okami}}'' uses French cliché phrases from time to time in the American translation. In the original Japanese version, he used GratuitousEnglish, but that wouldn't have translated well. |
| 300 | * ''Franchise/{{Persona}}'': |
| 301 | ** ''VideoGame/Persona3'': |
| 302 | *** Mitsuru Kirijo is prone to dropping a phrase or two at times, at least in the English dub. For example, in dungeons party members will sometimes ''scout ahead'' and then ''meet up'' with you. Mitsuru will perform ''reconnaissance'' and then ''rendezvous''. Then again, considering that she's [[TheSmartGuy the girl with the highest marks in school]], she might actually know a fair bit of French. |
| 303 | %%*** "'Tray ben?' What does that mean? That's not English is it?" |
| 304 | *** The French exchange student, on the other hand, spouts GratuitousJapanese. Go figure. |
| 305 | %%*** Akihiko gets in on the action in the PSP remake. |
| 306 | ** ''VideoGame/Persona5'' uses tarot cards motifs throughout based on the French [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarot_of_Marseilles Tarot of Marseilles]], despite being a Japanese game made by a Japanese Company and set in the Japanese city of UsefulNotes/{{Tokyo}}. |
| 307 | * ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'': |
| 308 | ** Fantina speaks gratuitous French in every language version of ''VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl'' except Japanese and French. In the original Japanese version and the French localization, she spoke GratuitousEnglish and her name was Melissa/Kiméra. |
| 309 | ** This is all over the place in ''VideoGame/PokemonXAndY'', due to the region of Kalos being based on France. For instance: |
| 310 | *** Almost all the routes in Kalos[[note]]Such as the early Route 22 and its egregiously grammatically wrong "Détourner Way"[[/note]] and streets in Lumiose City bear French names. |
| 311 | *** In the cafes, the items on the menu are known by their French names. |
| 312 | *** Quite a few characters also pepper their speech with French words, such as Professor Sycamore. |
| 313 | *** The Pokémon Furfrou is based on a poodle, a French breed of dog. Interestingly, it says the French onomatopoeia for barking "ouaf-ouaf" rather than the English "woof", or [[PokemonSpeak its name]]. |
| 314 | * In ''[[VideoGame/QuiltsAndCatsOfCalico Quilts & Cats of Calico]]'', Frida of the upper part of Tomkitty peppers French phrases in her speech. |
| 315 | * A few items in ''VideoGame/RadiantHistoria'' have French names, as does the continent on which it takes place, Vainqueur ("conqueror"). |
| 316 | * ''Everywhere'' in ''VideoGame/RhythmThiefAndTheEmperorsTreasure''. Even the characters without French accents speak French from time to time. Then again, the game IS set in France. |
| 317 | * ''VideoGame/{{Solatorobo}}'' is an interesting example: while all the written dialogue is in whatever language you choose, the voice clips (exclamations, etc.) are in French, but with obvious Japanese accents (i.e. JapaneseRanguage). Some of the expressions used come off more as CurseOfTheAncients than a real insult. Signs, however, are written in perfectly correct French. |
| 318 | * ''VideoGame/SpiderManEdgeOfTime'': When Spidey 2099 informs Amazing Spidey that he can't access the present day Alchemax's archives, Amazing Spidey sarcastically responses "Quelle surprise!" [[note]]"What a surprise!"[[/note]] |
| 319 | * ''VideoGame/StoryOfSeasonsPioneersOfOliveTown'': Karina, the fashion designer staying in town who runs the clothing shop after it's built, sometimes greets the PlayerCharacter with a "Bonjour". |
| 320 | * The ''VideoGame/TaikoNoTatsujin'' song "Jobutsu 2000" has its main lyrics being a woman repeating the number "37564" in French (37564 sounds like "kill everyone" in Japanese) at the start and near the end of the song, lines about accepting death in the middle, as well as "J'ai Faim!". |
| 321 | * ''VideoGame/TalesSeries'': |
| 322 | ** ''VideoGame/TalesOfTheAbyss'' has the spell ''Eclair de L'armes'' (Flash of Tears, though due to apostrophe turns it into Flash of the Weapon) and its [=FoF=] Change, ''Flamme Rouge''. |
| 323 | ** Innes Lorenz from ''VideoGame/TalesOfHearts'' deserves an honorable mention, since all of her artes contain french words. |
| 324 | * The Spy in ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' uses a heavy French...[[WhatTheHellIsThatAccent ish]] accent and numerous gratuitous French lines (and one or two GratuitousSpanish[=/=][[GratuitousItalian Italian]] lines as well). As part of a running development theme, his lines have numerous grammar errors ("ma petit chou-fleur" should use the male article, even when referring to a woman), and his voice actor isn't French. In the French ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'', the Spy has some GratuitousEnglish in his lines instead. |
| 325 | * ''VideoGame/TwistedWonderland'': [[LargeHam Rook Hunt]] is prone to this; he often peppers words like ''beauté'' and ''très bien'' into his sentences and refers to other students as ''rois'' (kings, in case of dorm heads) and ''messieurs''. |
| 326 | * ''VideoGame/UminekoGoldenFantasia'' (A FightingGame based off ''VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry'') has a French translation beneath just about every piece of on-screen text during battles, [[RuleOfCool just because]]. A lot of them are grammatically dubious or translate into the wrong word, such as "Guard Touch" being translated as "Garder le toucher"[[note]]"Keep the touch", "Garder" can mean either "Keep" or "Guard"[[/note]], "Counter hit" being "En sens inverse coup"[[note]]Which should be "Coup en sens inverse"[[/note]], and "Dash Cancel" becoming "Tiret annulé"[[note]]"Canceled dash", with the "dash" referring to the punctuation sign[[/note]] |
| 327 | * In ''VideoGame/UnleashTheLight'', Amethyst sometimes says ''"Excusez moi!"'' when switching places with another party member. |
| 328 | * The Belgian Jeanette "Angel" Devereaux of the ''VideoGame/WingCommander'' series often inserts French words and phrases into her speech, (for example, "Oui, mon colonel") and commonly refers to people as "monsieur" or ("mademoiselle" for Spirit). |
| 329 | [[/folder]] |
| 330 | |
| 331 | [[folder:L'art (Art)]] |
| 332 | * ''Art/NueCouchee'' is French for "Reclining Nude". Unusual considering the artist who made it is from Galesburg, Illinois. |
| 333 | [[/folder]] |
| 334 | |
| 335 | [[folder:Littérature (Literature)]] |
| 336 | * The diaries of ''Literature/AdrianMole'' are liberally sprinkled with French phrases, even though he does not speak French. The ones most often used are ''faux pas'', ''sans'', ''je ne sais quoi''. |
| 337 | --> Bianca came round ''avec'' tool box, but ''sans'' wine. |
| 338 | --> What would be the point of living after age sixty? ''Sans'' teeth, ''sans'' muscle tone and ''sans'' sex? |
| 339 | ** This is a riff on a line from a Shakespeare play, which also uses "sans". |
| 340 | --> Without girls, the party lacked a certain ''je ne sais quoi'' (French for something or other). |
| 341 | --> The conversation of uncultured people lacks a certain ''je ne sais quoi'': unless they are French of course. |
| 342 | * In English Literature it was pretty common up until the 1980's for authors to regularly [[ThrowItIn throw in]] a few French phrases here and there. It was a sign of an educated person to "know a bit of French". If you didn't, ''tant pis'' - too bad for you. |
| 343 | * One of Godfather Auteur's quirks in ''Literature/FactionParadox''. It's definitely an affectation, seeing how he isn't even human in the first place. |
| 344 | * ''Literature/{{Lolita}}''. Good luck trying to figure out what they hell everyone's talking about if you aren't bilingual, because occasionally plot-relevant information is given only in French. Humbert is particularly given to this, and he gets kinda snooty when other characters use bad French. At one point, Lolita even calls him on this, saying that people find it rather annoying when he speaks French. |
| 345 | * Samuel Weller's father in ''Literature/ThePickwickPapers''. |
| 346 | * In ''Literature/EmpireOfTheVampire'', the setting takes heavily after early modern France and characters will liberally pepper their speech with basic French words and expressions, such as "oui", "frére", "famille" etc. No actual French is used, however. |
| 347 | * Creator/AgathaChristie's Literature/HerculePoirot is Belgian and doesn't speak English fluently, so that character's use of French phrases is justified. Except that he actually uses less French than Christie's sympathetic English characters, who pepper their speech with French phrases. The reason is that Christie associated the use of French phrases with intelligent sophistication, not with arrogant pretension. |
| 348 | * Most characters in 19th century Russian novels are either fluent in French or follow this trope. Of course, French was the official language of the court of Imperial Russia. |
| 349 | ** Likewise with the ''Literature/ErastFandorin'' novels. |
| 350 | ** Happens all the time throughout ''Literature/WarAndPeace'', sometimes with entire ''pages'' of untranslated French. |
| 351 | * Literature/LordPeterWimsey of the Creator/DorothyLSayers' crime novels frequently indulges in them. However, he a) IS not only sophisticated but also fluent in French and b) is usually conversing with other English people who can be expected (in the '20s) to have had significant French-language exposure at school. |
| 352 | * Partly because of his admiration for French Enlightenment writers, partly because his native German sometimes lacked just the right word or phrase, Creator/FriedrichNietzsche sometimes used French words and phrases (as well as ones from other languages) in his books. The most famous of these is undoubtedly ''ressentiment'', and the penultimate section of ''Ecce Homo'' concludes with a motto from Voltaire. |
| 353 | * In the original Creator/IanFleming ''Literature/CasinoRoyale'' novel, M is reading a report by Head of S in which the latter states that Le Chiffre is in the mess he's in because the chain of legal brothels he was running using embezzled party funds were closed by a 1946 French law usually referred to as "la loi Marthe Richard", which criminalised them. Head of S gives the full French title of the law [[note]]Loi tendant à la fermeture des maisons de tolérance et au renforcement de la lutte contre le proxénétisme[[/note]]. M rings him up, asks what (it is implied) "proxénétisme" means -- pimping (literally, "procuring"). M then responds: |
| 354 | -->"This is not the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlitz_International Berlitz School of Languages]], Head of S. The next time you want to show off your knowledge of foreign jaw-breakers, be so good as to use a crib[[note]](i.e., provide a cheat sheet)[[/note]]. Better still, write in English." |
| 355 | * Holly Golightly in the novella ''Literature/BreakfastAtTiffanys'' does this often, usually incorrectly; [[TruthInTelevision so did her creator, Truman Capote, and many of his society friends who wanted to seem more society than they were.]] |
| 356 | * In ''Literature/TheSecretsOfDrearcliffGrangeSchool'', set in the 1920s, Head Girl Gryce peppers her speech with French words and phrases to the point that at times her dialogue consists of the occasional lonely word of English floating in a sea of French. |
| 357 | * In ''Literature/YoungAdultNovel'', when Horace Gerstenblut, the Lord High Executioner (i.e. vice-president) of Himmler High School, tells the Wild Dada Ducks that since they are not a recognized student activity they effectively don't exist, they decide to retaliate by printing a few hundred cards reading "Horace Gerstenblut n'existe pas" and distributing them in the school bathrooms. The cards were highly popular, though dozens of students had to ask what the words meant. |
| 358 | * [[Literature/JeevesAndWooster Bertie Wooster]] in Creator/PGWodehouse's novels often uses French phrases, sometimes wondering if they're correct (according to the footnotes, usually yes). [[TheJeeves Jeeves]] is equally prone to this. From the [[ADayInTheLimelight Jeeves-narrated]] "Bertie Changes His Mind": |
| 359 | --> Tact, of course, has always been with me a ''sine qua non;''[[note]]This one is latin[[/note]] while as for resource, I think I may say that I have usually contrived to show a certain modicum of what I might call ''finesse'' in handling those little ''contretemps'' which inevitably arise from time to time in the daily life of a gentleman’s personal gentleman. |
| 360 | * In the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novel ''Literature/{{Hogfather}}'', a fancy restaurant names all their dishes in the pseudo-French language Quirmian. It's amazing how many fancy French titles they can give to dishes made out of mud and old boots. |
| 361 | * A running joke in ''Fool'', a book by the same author as ''Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff'', concerning the fool from Theatre/KingLear as the protagonist, is the main character's fondness for the following phrase: "'Moi!?' I said, In perfect fucking French." |
| 362 | * The Spanish Language Novel ''Literature/{{Aura}}'' by Carlos Fuentes includes whole segments in French, segments that apparently provide important clues to the plot. |
| 363 | * The character of Jean Claude from the ''Literature/AnitaBlake'' series is very, very guilty of this. Most of what he says is complete bullshit to a native French-speaker, as a result of the author's sloppy research. |
| 364 | * In ''Literature/JaneEyre'', Adele almost always speaks in French. Justified as she is, after all, a French girl, but the multi-paragraph chunks of French can be daunting to the non-bilingual reader. |
| 365 | * Charlotte Brontë did the same in ''The Professor'': set in French-speaking Brussels, the English protagonist maintains several conversations with non-anglophones in French. |
| 366 | * This trope is played with periodically in the case of [[Literature/AuntDimity Nell Harris]]. She is depicted as unworldly, verging on [[CloudCuckoolander CloudCuckoolander-territory]], but is in fact both intelligent and wise. In ''Aunt Dimity's Good Deed'', she disguises herself as a French girl who is Willis Sr.'s ward and speaks French as a part of the cover, getting information from locals about Gerald Willis. Years later, she falls for Kit Smith, then her father's stable master and twice her age (She's 16, he's 32). He doesn't want to take advantage of her youth and tells her so, but he sneaks into her grandfather's estate to see her after her riding accident in ''Aunt Dimity Takes a Holiday''. When he goes to leave her bedside, he says, "I...I should go. Good-bye, Nell." She replies, "''Au revoir'', Kit." The French phrase can be literally translated as, "until our next meeting," making it clear she still loves him and intends to pursue the relationship. |
| 367 | * Appears occasionally in the ''Literature/RedDwarf'' novels by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor, where the narration will occasionally use a French adjective. For example, Rimmer once gives a false smile which is described as ''trompe-l'oeil'' [[note]]"fooling the eye; convincingly deceptive"[[/note]]. |
| 368 | * Appears frequently in Literature/FancyNancy's book series. Using French in order to look sophisticated is an essential trait of Nancy's personality. |
| 369 | * ''{{Literature/Suspicion}}'' by Swiss author Friedrich Dürrenmatt has a character named Edith Marlok whose catchphrase is ''C'est ça''. |
| 370 | * In spades from Eugenia Münster and Felix Young, the protagonists of Creator/HenryJames' ''Literature/TheEuropeans'', who regularly pepper their speech with French phrases, and often use the French pronunciation of words which the two languages have in common, such as "type". |
| 371 | * Thomas Mann's [[Literature/ConfessionsOfFelixKrull Felix Krull]] is fluent in French and his "Confessions" contain several short and long passages of untranslated French dialogue. He also gets to show off his [[GratuitousEnglish English]] and [[GratuitousItalian Italian]], but to a lesser extent. |
| 372 | * In Thomas Mann's The Magic Mountain, at least in the English translation there is a long scene in French; justified in that it is the native language of the character Clavdia Chauchat. (As a Genius Bonus, she makes the word for the back of the knee sound incredibly sexy, as in everything is sexier in French.) In the French translation, her name is rendered Clawdia, and the scene is left in French but set in italics. |
| 373 | * In the ''Franchise/HarryPotter'' series, the official motto of the Black family is "Toujours pur", which means "Always pure"[[note]]For non-readers, "pure" is a caste word for those with undiluted wizarding ancestry (as far as they know, anyway)[[/note]]. Makes sense, as the family is one of the oldest wizarding families in Britain, and French is the language of the British upper-class for centuries after the Norman conquest. |
| 374 | ** The Delacour family (Fleur, Gabrielle, their parents) lapse into untranslated French phrases sometimes. But then, they ''are'' French... |
| 375 | * In ''Literature/WolfHall'', Anne Boleyn is mentioned to pretend she's forgotten the English phrase for something (having been brought up largely in France) and use French as an affectation. She also habitually calls Thomas Cromwell "Cremuel", which is how other French-speaking characters render his name, but it's implied she does so to slight him. |
| 376 | * Justified in regards to Jacques, from the ''Literature/{{Kadingir}}'' series, who is indeed French and constantly lets out words and expressions in his native tongue. |
| 377 | ** Played straight with the Ziti nobs in ''The Fourth Power'', since the only reason they try (and fail miserably) to speak the language is because [[spoiler: the queen's father is French]] and everything connected to France has become insanely fashionable. |
| 378 | -->'''The Duke of Baredinna:''' ''Oh, lala!'' I love the France! I pulled some strings in the Kadingir Corporation and they revealed to me so much intel about this exotic Earthling region... Now I dress all my servants with berets, I eat ''kroudjans'' every morning and I've had all of Jewels Bernie's books translated! |
| 379 | * In ''Literature/TheShadowspawn'', the villainous vampires are centuries-old Old World nobility and, in some cases, actual Frenchmen, and so make not altogether inconsiderable use of this. Notably, while sometimes gratuitous it's still mostly ''good'' French, correctly spelled and composed. |
| 380 | * In ''Literature/FromTheMixedUpFilesOfMrsBasilEFrankweiler'', Mrs. Frankweiler offers Claudia and Jamie a lunch of ''nouilles et fromage en casserole''...and laughs when they realize it's just macaroni and cheese. |
| 381 | * Aunt Jocelyn from ''Literature/EyeOfAFly'' likes dropping random French words and phrases into her sentences, because "[[EverythingSoundsSexierInFrench I think français is so much more élégant than a guttural tongue like English.]]" |
| 382 | * ''Literature/TheAdrienEnglishMysteries'': Claude [=LaPierre=] from ''Fatal Shadows'' uses this to mask his humble origins. |
| 383 | [[/folder]] |
| 384 | |
| 385 | [[folder:Marionettes (Puppet Shows)]] |
| 386 | * ''Series/TheMuppetShow''. |
| 387 | ** Miss Piggy. "Moi?" The fact she rarely uses more than a couple of words is often lampshaded; for instance when the guest star was Jean-Pierre Rampal, she went to ridiculous lengths to avoid admitting she couldn't speak fluently. There was also this from the Creator/RogerMoore episode: |
| 388 | --->'''Piggy''': Roger, ''mon amor'', you know we are meant to be. ''Vous'' and ''moi''. |
| 389 | --->'''Roger''': ''Vous et moi? Nous?'' |
| 390 | --->'''Piggy''': Who? |
| 391 | --->'''Roger''': We. |
| 392 | --->'''Piggy''': Oh, ''oui. Oui, oui, oui''. |
| 393 | --->'''Roger''': What are you trying to say, Miss Piggy? |
| 394 | ** Much less frequently, but the Swedish Chef will occasionally add some French to his ForeignSoundingGibberish (i.e. "où est la banananana"). |
| 395 | * Louis the bilingual otter from ''Canadian Series/SesameStreet'' / ''Sesame Park'', who teaches the audience various French words and phrases. He often peppers his speech with French words. |
| 396 | [[/folder]] |
| 397 | |
| 398 | [[folder:Musique (Music)]] |
| 399 | * ''Music/{{ABBA}}'': "Voulez-Vous", especially the chorus which features the line "''La question c'est 'voulez-vous?'''" ("The question is 'Do you want it?'") |
| 400 | * The second verse of Electric Light Orchestra's "Hold On Tight" is in French; more specifically, it's the first verse translated into French. |
| 401 | * The first half of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6Dm5hldI-k Les Étoiles]] by Melody Gardot is in French. |
| 402 | * Music/TheBeatles song "Michelle," which is about professing love to a non-Anglophone French girl. (''Sont des mots qui vont très bien ensemble'' and translated by the Beatles as "These are words that go together well.") |
| 403 | ** Beatallica's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UykLBslIUPc version goes]] "sont des cloches qui péage bien ensemble" ([[Music/{{Metallica}} "these are bells that toll together well"]], but with the wrong "toll" -- it's translated as a road toll, rather than ringing). |
| 404 | * Music/ColePorter liked having portions of his songs sung in French, often for no other justifiable reason than EverythingSoundsSexierInFrench. In "It's De-Lovely," one of the singers chides the other for "falling into Berlitz French." |
| 405 | * The Music/MichelleBranch song "Till I Get Over You" has some gratuitous French in the chorus. It's coherent enough unless you read the album notes, which transcribe it wrong and then ''translate'' it wrong. |
| 406 | * Minako Aino's song "C'est La Vie ~ Watashi No Naka No Koi Suru Bubun" in ''Series/PrettyGuardianSailorMoon'' is a bit off in its understanding of the phrase "C'est la vie." "C'est la vie" means "That's life" but in a way roughly analogous to "[[ItCantBeHelped shit happens]]", so the sentence "Atsui kimochi wa C'est la vie (This warm feeling is C'est la vie)" is a bit odd. It is also a ghastly pun on the character's old secret identity, [[Manga/CodenameSailorV Sailor V]]. |
| 407 | * The Music/TalkingHeads' song "Psycho Killer" has the bridge (as well as the hook "Psycho killer, qu'est que c'est?") sung in French, giving the song just that extra hint of derangement. |
| 408 | * Music/IanDury & The Blockheads -- "Hit me with your rhythm stick! Je t'adore, [[GratuitousGerman Ich liebe dich!"]] |
| 409 | * "Lady Marmalade"'s classic IntercourseWithYou [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voulez-vous_coucher_avec_moi%3F "voulez-vous coucher avec moi (ce soir)?"]] . Justified by the fact that the song is set in New Orleans, moreso when it was later covered for ''Film/MoulinRouge'', whose setting is Paris. |
| 410 | * In Creator/JohnnyHallyday's "I Am the Blues", one of the French musical icon's few English-language songs (co-written by [[Music/{{U2}} Bono]], no less), he throws in "Aidez-moi, aidez-moi" ("help me") at the climax. |
| 411 | * Music/BillyIdol: "Les yeux sans visage... Eyes without a face" (both phrases have the same meaning). The song is a ShoutOut to [[Film/EyesWithoutAFace a 1960 French horror movie]] that's been released under both titles. |
| 412 | * Music/BillyJoel's song "C'etait toi/You are the one" sings the entire song twice, once in English, once in French. |
| 413 | * Music/TheAgonist song ''Martyr Art'' has a French outro, and ''Revenge of the Dadaists'' has a French intro. Less gratuitous than most, however, since they are from the French-speaking Canadian province of Quebec. |
| 414 | * Ottawa-based experimental grindcore act Fuck the Facts, who usually have at least two or three French-language tracks per album, give or take some (''Amer'', their most recent EP, has only ''one'' English-language track). Interestingly, Melanie Mongeon is a Francophone by default and spoke very little English when she joined, and she essentially learned English by forcing herself to write the majority of her lyrics in it. |
| 415 | * [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w15oWDh02K4 "L'Amour Toujours"]] ("love always"), a song by an Italian DJ sung in English by a British-Nigerian. |
| 416 | * Contrary to what anyone in Music/{{Muse}} might believe, the song "I Belong to You (Mon Cœur S'ouvre à ta Voix)" actually contains the phrase "R'''i'''pond'''s''' à ma tendress-uh". |
| 417 | * Music/LadyGaga has some gratuitous French in the bridge of "Bad Romance." Extra points for being timed so the next line (actually "I don't wanna be friends") sounds like "I DON'T WANNA BE FRENCH!" And more extra points for uncomfortably squeezing in an extra syllable for the French ("I want your love and I want your revenge" = 10; "Je veux ton amour et je veux ta revanche" = 11), its first iteration in the single swallows "veux" ("want") almost completely. |
| 418 | ** Which is excellently parodied by [[WebVideo/YuGiOhTheAbridgedSeries LittleKuriboh]]. |
| 419 | ** Music/WeirdAlYankovic also parodies this in his song "Perform This Way": |
| 420 | --> "And for no reason now I'll sing in French / Excusez-moi, Qui a pété?" [[note]]"Excuse me, who farted?"[[/note]] |
| 421 | * Music/JanetJackson has some of this in her 1986 song "Funny How Time Flies (When You're Having Fun)". When translated, it basically describes the song. |
| 422 | * Music/DaftPunk, despite being (emphatically) French, has [[{{Pun}} virtually]] all its songs in English. Nevertheless, when they released their anthology, what did they title it? ''Musique Vol. 1''. |
| 423 | * Art vs. Science's song [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRZ-jLOrFfk "Parlez-vous Français?"]], naturally, has plenty of gratuitous French in it. The line "Si tu peux le parler allez tombez la chemise" actually says "If you speak it, take your shirt off", most likely a reference to the song [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4y4D-evzDTo&feature=kp "Tomber La Chemise"]], which was quite a hit in France in 1998. |
| 424 | * Music/{{Uffie}}'s song [[WordSaladTitle "Robot Oeuf"]]. Probably will be more common now that she's based in Paris. The song, however has no French to speak of. Just the title. |
| 425 | * Music/{{Kasabian}}'s 'La Fée Verte'. |
| 426 | * Music/ThePolice song "Hungry for You (J'aurais Toujours Faim de Toi)", as you can probably tell by the parentheses, is almost entirely in French (one lone chorus gets sung in English towards the end). |
| 427 | ** The band also named their first two albums in broken French, ''Outlandos D'Amour'' and ''Regatta de Blanc''. |
| 428 | * In Aine Furey's haunting song "13 wishes" most of the last verse is sung in French; even for high school speakers, "Elle est la fille, elle est la fleur... La bohème qui vive pour l'amour" is clear enough; the intervening line, not so much. |
| 429 | * [[Music/ThreeEleven 311's]] song [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axhzJM62z3k "Salsa"]] lampshades this in the line "Je vais à la plage parce que le guignol est chouette! I kick nonsense in French tasty like Crepe Suzette". This translates to "I go to the beach because the Theatre/PunchAndJudy show is cool!" |
| 430 | * Music/JudasPriest's 1977 song "Saints In Hell" has Rob Halford randomly howling: "''Abattoir!'' ''Abattoir!'' ''Mon Dieu, quel horreur!''" (''Abattoir'' roughly means "slaughterhouse.") |
| 431 | * Shakira does this in her song "Something" (first verse, repeated later in the song). |
| 432 | * Ricchi e Poveri's "Voulez-vous Danser" ("Do you want to dance"). The song is in the singers' native Italian, except for the titular question, asked at the beginning and end of each verse. |
| 433 | * Music/EricBogle's "Flying Finger Filler" contains a stanza in (intentionally) bad French. Of course, the entire song is not supposed to make any sense. |
| 434 | * Music/PeterGabriel's "Games Without Frontiers" features Music/KateBush repeatedly singing the title in French ("jeux sans frontieres"). |
| 435 | * Music/{{MGMT}}'s [[LiveAlbum live EP]] ''Qu'est-ce que c'est la vie, chaton?'' - it translates to "What Is Life, Kitten?" |
| 436 | * Music/KylieMinogue: |
| 437 | ** "Je Ne Sais Pas Pourquoi" (lit: "I Don't Know Why") in her early career featuring the title prominently. |
| 438 | ** "Your Disco Needs You" also has a bridge spoken in French. |
| 439 | * Music/FlightOfTheConchords perform Foux de Fafa, which is basically the fragments of French that they remember from school shoehorned into song form to try to impress women. |
| 440 | -->Pamplemousse! ...Ananas! ...Jus d'orange! ...Boeuf! |
| 441 | -->Soup du jour! ...Camembert! ...Jacques Cousteau! ...Baguette! |
| 442 | * The chorus of Music/{{Rush|Band}}'s "Circumstances" has the line "Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose" followed by the English translation, "The more that things change, the more they stay the same." |
| 443 | * One of the verses of Music/{{Queensryche}}'s "I Don't Believe in Love" contains the phrase "No chance for contact, there's no raison d'etre". |
| 444 | * Music/LesSavyFav were known for this in their early days. There's gratuitous French in the first track on their debut, an album which also has a song called "Je T'aime". [[AsLongAsItSoundsForeign The band name itself means nothing]]. |
| 445 | * Music/AdamAndTheAnts' "Ant Rap". |
| 446 | --> Liberté, Egalité, au jourd'hui c'est très très très |
| 447 | --> Voici l'opportunité nous incroyables |
| 448 | * Moxy Fruvous, who otherwise sing in English, have "Morphée", sung entirely in French. Though none of the band were native French speakers, they were formed in Ontario, Canada, which does have a significant francophone population. |
| 449 | * The {{Music/Alphaville}} song "Vingt Mille Lieues Sous Les Mers" is sung in English except for the chorus: "Comme vingt mille lieues sous les mers"[[note]]"Like 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea"[[/note]]. The song is about a scene in a movie the singer can't remember the name of. |
| 450 | * Music/{{REM}}'s "Talk About the Passion", from ''Music/{{Murmur}}'', contains the line "Combien du temps?" roughly translating to "For how long?" |
| 451 | * German band "Huah!" in "Ohne Titel". "Écoute, écoute!...c'est la guerre..." |
| 452 | * Music/TheBrobecks have a song called “Le Velo Pour Deux", where the speaker uses a bit of french in an attempt to sound both more sophisticated and [[EverythingSoundsSexierInFrench romantic]]. |
| 453 | * From Music/WalkTheMoon, the song "Work This Body" (and the rest of their music) is in English... Except for a few random lines. "Que ferais-tu? Putain, je ne sais pas! Ne vien pas pleurer vers moi…" ("What would you do?" "Fuck, I don't know!" "Don't come crying to me...") |
| 454 | * A song on the ''Fantôme'' album by Music/UtadaHikaru, ''Ore no Kanojo'', has this, complete with awful pronunciation. |
| 455 | * Music/RoxyMusic in "Do The Strand": "Louis Seize [[note]]The 16th. Unsurprisingly often misheard as "says", it's even more grammatical so[[/note]] - he prefer Laissez-faire Le[[note]] Le MemeticMutation before it even [[OlderThanTheyThink existed]][[/note]] Strand". |
| 456 | * Japanese group Music/YellowMagicOrchestra have "La Femme Chinoise" on their self-titled album, which includes French spoken-word lyrics during the intro and bridge. |
| 457 | * "C'est la vie" by German synthpop artist Hubert Kah has French lyrics in its chorus and coda. The German TranslatedCoverVersion, "Wilkommen im Leben", keeps the French refrain. |
| 458 | * Music/{{Megadeth}}'s "A Tout le Monde", whose chorus downright starts with "À tout le monde, à tous mes amis, Je vous aime, je dois partir".[[note]]To all the world, to all my friends, I love you, I have to leave[[/note]] |
| 459 | * Music/NineInchNails' 'La Mer' ('The Sea') is entirely in Creole French, including the ArcWords 'Nothing can stop me now' [[note]]Translated as "À rien ne peut m'arrêter maintenant"[[/note]]. |
| 460 | * Bill Wyman's "(Si Si) Je Suis Un Rock Star": |
| 461 | -->Je suis un rock star\ |
| 462 | Je avais un residence\ |
| 463 | Je habiter la\ |
| 464 | A la south of France\ |
| 465 | \ |
| 466 | Voulez vous\ |
| 467 | Partir with me?\ |
| 468 | And come and rester la\ |
| 469 | With me in France |
| 470 | * Tom Tom Club's "Wordy Rappinghood": |
| 471 | -->Mots pressé, mots sensé\ |
| 472 | Mots qui disent la verité\ |
| 473 | Mots maudits, mots mentis\ |
| 474 | Mots qui manquent le fruit d'esprit |
| 475 | * Music/RickyMartin's "The Cup of Life (La Copa de la Vida)" has "Allez, allez, allez" and "Une, deux, trois". |
| 476 | * Music/TheVelvetUnderground's "Femme Fatale" isn't really an example itself because they're just referring to [[FemmeFatale a character type that happens to be named in French]]. However, Music/BigStar's CoverVersion translates the song's TitleDrop entirely into French, changing "She's a femme fatale" to "Elle est une femme fatale". |
| 477 | * The B*Witched song "C'est La Vie" features just the title - which appears in the verse, so is repeated throughout the song - in French, with the rest of the song in English. |
| 478 | * Music/{{Yes}} uses French for the subtitle and chorus of "Ritual": ''Nous sommes du soleil'' (We are of the sun). |
| 479 | * The English version of Trans-X's "Vivre sur vidéo/Living On Video" retains the French lyric "sur un faisceau de lumière"("on a beam of light") during the refrain. |
| 480 | * Music/{{Blondie|Band}} did this a few times, including a complete verse of French for the version of "Sunday Girl" used for their GreatestHitsAlbum. |
| 481 | * OneHitWonder band [[IronicName Eighth Wonder]] included a few lines of French in their only hit "I'm Not Scared", these were simply translations of some of the English lyrics. |
| 482 | * The Music/TearsForFears song "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiUDKPLJst4 Change (New Version)]]" (plus its variant "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcdpCUZST5M Change (Canadian New Version)]]") contains the lyrics "''C'est la vie''" ("It's life" in English). |
| 483 | * Music/{{Jhariah}}'s "Whose Eye Is It Anyway???" contains a French proverb in the second verse. |
| 484 | -->''An arm and a leg, my friend, les yеux d'la tete[[note]]"to cost an arm and a leg"[[/note]]\ |
| 485 | I never give as much as I get'' |
| 486 | * Music/MiracleMusical: The bridge of "宇宙ステーションのレベル7": |
| 487 | -->''Une ensemble d'enfants\ |
| 488 | La galaxie s'étend\ |
| 489 | Jardin de l'imagination\ |
| 490 | Je dois dire bonsoir\ |
| 491 | Lance-toi et tu vivras toujours ce soir'' |
| 492 | ** This is also one of the many sections reprised in "Dream Sweet in Sea Major". |
| 493 | * "Crucified" by Swedish trio Army of Lovers has "I've played a double jeux" and "I cry, I pray, mon dieu". |
| 494 | * Italian singer In-grid's "You Promised Me", an English version of her previously entirely French "Tu es foutu"(lit. "you're fucked"), maintains the original TitleDrop. |
| 495 | * Music/{{Enigma}}'s "Sadeness" and "Mea Culpa" combine this with GratuitousLatin. |
| 496 | * Music/NiallHoran: "Nice to Meet Ya" contains the line "I'm gonna take you somewhere warm, you know j'adore la mer". |
| 497 | [[/folder]] |
| 498 | |
| 499 | [[folder:Originaux d'Internet (Web Original)]] |
| 500 | * [[SelfDemonstratingArticle Le]] "Le" meme. Must...resist...le self-demonstrating...edit... |
| 501 | * Formerly used on Website/ThisVeryWiki as TheStinger to our FreudianSlipperySlope page... [[SophisticatedAsHell for the sake of a penis joke]]. |
| 502 | ** Still used in TheStinger for TheTreacheryOfImages, to parody Creator/ReneMagritte. |
| 503 | * In WebVideo/TheWithVoicesProject, the title for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcOyL7ch_f8 Episode 2 of Undertale With Voices: Pacifist,]] Les Freres Sans Peau, translates to "The Brothers Without Skin." |
| 504 | * From Froghand, the headers are usually made up of legible French, even though "Froge" is a made-up word, and is not French for "frog" as you may have assumed, unless you yourself were French, but then that would be silly. |
| 505 | * In [[https://youtu.be/115BS9KFBJ4?t=6m9s this]] parody VideoGame/{{Overwatch}} review, the reviewer claims that Widowmaker is [[MsFanservice "unrealistic"]]... [[BaitAndSwitch because she doesn't say "sacrebleu"]] like a ''real'' French person. |
| 506 | * In the WebOriginal/ProtectorsOfThePlotContinuum[='=]s base in New Caledonia, all the street names and place names are in French (e.g. the Rue Jay Thorntree[[note]]Jay Thorntree Street[[/note]], Musée des Univers Perdus[[note]]Museum of Lost Universes[[/note]], Parc Creator/JRRTolkien[[note]]J. R. R. Tolkien Park[[/note]], etc.) |
| 507 | * Baguette of ''WebAnimation/BrawlOfTheObjects'' speaks French, to the annoyance of other characters who cannot understand him. Later on, he teaches Boat how to speak French so that she can understand him better. In episode 12, Baguette reveals that him speaking French was all just an act to use every French stereotype he could think of, and he actually speaks fluent English like everyone else. |
| 508 | [[/folder]] |
| 509 | |
| 510 | [[folder:Radio (Radio)]] |
| 511 | * In an episode of ''Radio/RevoltingPeople'', Joshua attempts to sound sophisticated by adding gratuitous French expressions to his speech, despite having no idea what any of them mean (and thus invariably using them inappropriately). When Sam points this out, Joshua responds that everybody knows French is just decorative and it doesn't matter what the words ''mean'' -- and anyway, [[TheDitz he doesn't know what most words in English mean either]], and he's never let that stop him. |
| 512 | [[/folder]] |
| 513 | |
| 514 | [[folder:Roman visuel (Visual Novel)]] |
| 515 | * Justified in ''VisualNovel/FleuretBlanc'', as the game is set in France and many of the characters are bilingual, so occasional French phrases make sense in the context of the setting. This is lampshaded by Le Neuvieme -- to him, ''English'' is the gratuitous foreign language. |
| 516 | -->"I could not understand a word of that meeting. Why wouldn't they speak in French? We are in France, for God's sake!" |
| 517 | ** Additionally, many of the game's music tracks have French titles. |
| 518 | * In ''VisualNovel/SpiritHunterNG'', Rosé's speech is peppered with a few French words and sayings, which fits with her image of a woman from the upper-class. |
| 519 | * Yoh from ''VisualNovel/StarrySky'', who is a half, occasionally spouts a few lines of French. Although they might be grammatically correct for the most part, the pronunciation and spelling are terrible. His full name, [[AsLongAsItSoundsForeign Henri Samuel Jean Aimée]], also counts as an example - a great name, given you're 200 years old. |
| 520 | * ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyTrialsAndTribulations'' features a chef who sprinkles his lines with French[[note]]In the English version at least. In the French game, he's Italian.[[/note]]. However, it's easy to notice the mistakes in the text: while typical French-ish "ze" instead of "the" is expected, "trés"[[note]]"very"[[/note]] is used instead of "très" (yes, it makes a difference), and he always uses "la"[[note]]French being a gendered language, "la" is "the" for feminine nouns[[/note]] even when the word is masculine in French (ex. "meurtre" which is "murder"). |
| 521 | [[/folder]] |
| 522 | |
| 523 | [[folder:Spectacles comiques (Comedy)]] |
| 524 | * Creator/EddieIzzard. Fluent in French, he has been known to perform his stand-up specials in French for French-speakers, and frequently includes segments in French in front of English-speaking audiences. [[GratuitousGerman Same goes for German, but that's a different trope.]] |
| 525 | ** "Ou est la plume de mon oncle?" "La plume de mon oncle est bingy bongy dingy dangy..." |
| 526 | ** "By the way, if you don't speak French, then all that was fucking funny" |
| 527 | * Averted by Creator/GeorgeCarlin during the introduction to his album ''Parental Advisory: Explicit Lyrics'', where he makes a point to tell us that he will not be using the French adverb ''très''[[note]]"very"[[/note]] to modify any English words. |
| 528 | [[/folder]] |
| 529 | |
| 530 | [[folder:Télévision (Live-Action TV)]] |
| 531 | * Lampshaded in ''Series/ThirtyRock'' after Liz has her first executive lunch: |
| 532 | --> "Who's got two thumbs, speaks limited French, and hasn't cried once today? This ''moi''". |
| 533 | * In ''Series/DoctorWho'', the Tenth Doctor has a habit of using the phrase "Allons-y!" ("Let's go!") every now and then in both the show and the new novels. [[spoiler:This and his use of "molto bene" (Italian for "very good"/"very well") end up saving his butt in "Midnight" when the Hostess recognizes the words are coming out of the wrong person.]] |
| 534 | ** The critical work "Inside the TARDIS", describing the MaleGaze of the camera when Zoe's around, drops into French to name which area of her body it keeps lingering on. [[spoiler:Her "derrière".]] |
| 535 | * ''Series/{{Dollhouse}}'' plays this one to a regrettable T. In eipsode 8 (Needs), doll Tango appears with her handler during a tense escape scene. She's speaking [[BilingualDialogue French]], but instead of a BilingualBonus, it ends up causing unintentional levity for [[SomedayThisWillComeInHandy some tropers]], because the dialogue is stiltedly written and painfully delivered. In heavily American-accented French, Tango remarks: |
| 536 | -->"''Chaque mot que tu dis c'est comme un [?] mes oreilles.''" ("Every word you say it is like a [?] my ears.") |
| 537 | -->"''Les véhicles [?] c'est dégoûtant.''" ("The vehicles [?] it's disgusting.") |
| 538 | -->"''Je ne sais pas pour qui j'ai [sic] continué à employer ce service de voiture en Los Angeles.''" ("I don't know for who I've continued to use this vehicle service in Los Angeles.") |
| 539 | * In one episode of ''Series/FawltyTowers'', Sybil told the "Pretentious? Moi?" joke to Audrey over the phone. |
| 540 | * ''Series/FellowTravelers'': In episode 4, when Lucy advises her brother to slow down his drinking, Leonard responds, "''Au contraire'' [[note]]"On the contrary"[[/note]], dear sister. I'm just getting started." |
| 541 | * Late in the ''Series/FullHouse'' episode "The Bicycle Thief", in Jesse's desperate attempt to prevent the father of the boy he took the bike from by mistake beating him up, he addresses himself as "Joey" while calling Joey "Danny" as Joey enters the living room. Because Joey is not informed beforehand of Jesse's ploy, his reaction to it is "Pardonnez-moi?" out of sheer confusion. |
| 542 | * PlayedForLaughs when in ''Series/TheFullMonty2023'' Lomper's husband Dennis changes the café's name from Big Baps[[note]]bap is both a soft butter roll AND slang for breast[[/note]] to Le Grand Pain ("the big loaf"). However many people can't tell the name is French and make jokes about the place being a large pain. |
| 543 | * PlayedForLaughs on ''Series/GilmoreGirls.'' Lorelai's father is entertaining important guests, one of whom speaks only French. Unfortunately, the only French Lorelai knows is from [[Film/MoulinRouge "Lady Marmalade,"]] which she [[IntercourseWithYou quotes]] without knowing what it means. Much to the [[FeeFiFauxPas horror of everyone in the room]]. |
| 544 | -->'''Richard:''' Asking my friend to sleep with you is a ''joke'' to you? |
| 545 | * ''Series/TheGreatBritishBakeOff'': If a bake deals with a specific nationality Mel and Sue won't just imitate the accent, they'll speak in the language of the country of origin when making announcements. French is just one of the many languages they've spoken... sort of... in the Bake Off Tent. |
| 546 | * Much to the detriment of many a ''Series/HellsKitchen'' fan, Benjamin from season 7. |
| 547 | -->'''Benjamin''': Oui, Chef! |
| 548 | * [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in the second season of ''Series/HoleyMoley'', where the second half of the end-of-season retrospective is referred to as ''Part Deux'' rather than ''Part Two''. The hosts point out that it doesn't really make any sense to have the subtitle in French when the first episode's subtitle was in English. The explanation given is that ''Part Un'' just sounds like a grunt. |
| 549 | * ''Series/TheHour'' has Marnie speaking some on her cooking show, as well as when talking to Camille, who is French. |
| 550 | * ''Series/InterviewWithTheVampire2022'': |
| 551 | ** As a Frenchman, Lestat de Lioncourt sometimes peppers his English with French words and sentences. Louis de Pointe du Lac, a Creole, does as well, albeit rarely. |
| 552 | ** In "[[Recap/InterviewWithTheVampire2022S1E7TheThingLayStill The Thing Lay Still]]", Claudia has one line of dialogue in French: "''[La] Musique française pour les mains françaises.''" ("French music for French hands.") |
| 553 | ** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEmfMte3L4A&t=1m40s In the Season 2 First Look Scene,]] the Parisian vampire Armand converses with Louis mostly in English except for when he responds to a compliment with "''Merci''." [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wT4QihIavo&t=25s In the Season 2 trailer,]] Armand instructs Louis to "bring the ''petite'' [[note]]the feminine form of "little"[[/note]] beauty." |
| 554 | * ''Series/IronChef'' is a Japanese cooking show. Its successor, ''Iron Chef America'', is [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin an American version.]] Both have the same call to arms, "Allez cuisine!" Which translates roughly to "Go cook something!" or "Cook!". |
| 555 | ** Or, it could be translated as "Go cook" ("Cuisine" is both the verb "to cook" and the place "kitchen"), still grammaticaly incorrect though. |
| 556 | ** For what it's worth, when ''Iron Chef'' was still subtitled for Japanese-American television, they translated it as 'start cooking, gentlemen!' or just 'start cooking!' if the challenger was female. |
| 557 | * Pierre Alfonso Oren of ''Series/KamenRiderGaim'' is every bit as fond of French as Enter is, though they don't share any catchphrases. C'est bon! In his early appearances, we got little speech bubbles translating them onscreen, but that didn't last. Even his ''name'' is an example: his ''real'' name proves to be a much more Japanese ''Gennosuke'' Oren. |
| 558 | * One Creator/MontyPython sketch is basically two Frenchmen talking about a flying sheep in French. |
| 559 | * ''Series/TheMusketeers'' Despite being a British-made adaptation, the characters often use various French words in their vocabulary to keep in line with the show's setting in 16th-century Paris. |
| 560 | * ''Series/MyKitchenRules'': Camilla from season 6 tries to show off her sophistication by setting-up a French-themed restaurant and then introducing the instant restaurant to the guests in French. The other teams were more confused than impressed, especially since the only other person who understands French is not present. And later, we find out that not even her team mate, Ash, understands her. |
| 561 | * Subverted in ''Series/OnlyFoolsAndHorses'', wherein Del Boy tries to use French to seem intelligent, but constantly, CONSTANTLY gets it wrong... to the point of saying ''bonjour'' to mean "goodbye" and ''au revoir'' to mean "hello". Perhaps most memorable amongst the mangled Del-speak French is his expansive exhortation of ''bonnet de douche'' – 'shower cap'. |
| 562 | ** Lampshaded in one of the last specials in which they actually go to France: |
| 563 | --->'''Del:''' One of my favourite French dishes is duck à l'orange. [...] How do they say "duck" in French?\ |
| 564 | '''Rodney:''' It's "canard".\ |
| 565 | '''Del:''' You can say that again, bruv. |
| 566 | ** Lampshaded in an earlier episode |
| 567 | --->'''Rodney:''' Del, you can't speak French. You're still struggling with English. |
| 568 | ** WordOfGod is that Del has failed to grasp that French phrases actually ''mean'' things at all. |
| 569 | * This, with a dash of unintended ToiletHumor took place on a 1958 telecast of ''Series/ThePriceIsRight.'' A contestant won two live French poodles, after which Bill Cullen asked the contestant if she spoke French, to which she replied "Oui Oui!" Bill followed it with "Yes, the dogs do, too!" |
| 570 | ** Bill had returned to the show on June 2, 1960 after a vacation in Paris, so Don Pardo did the opening in French: "Ce soir ces quatre personnes se réunissent pour concourir pour le prix d'une vie sur" [[note]]"Tonight, these four people meet to compete for the prizes of a lifetime on"[[/note]]...''The Price Is Right!''" |
| 571 | * The [[FakeNationality "French"]] Captain Jean-Luc Picard drops the occasional French-ism in the early seasons of ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', most notably a [[PrecisionFStrike well-placed]] [[{{Foreign Curse Word}} "merde"]] in "Encounter at Farpoint". Later, they mostly just let him be British. |
| 572 | ** [[PhysicalGod Q]] does this sometimes, calling Picard "''mon capitaine''" just to get on his nerves. |
| 573 | *** But the actor John de Lancie occasionally uses the Spanish word "capitán", which is probably a mispronunciation. |
| 574 | * ''Series/StarTrekPicard'': |
| 575 | ** In "Remembrance", Picard talks to his pet dog in French, who is carrying a small dead animal in his mouth. |
| 576 | --->'''Picard''': ''Je sais que tu penses ramener ça à la maison, mais c'est hors du question! Ne fais pas semblant de ne pas parler français. On s'est pratiqué.'' (I know you're thinking of bringing that in the house, but it's out of the question! Don't pretend you don't speak French. We practiced.) |
| 577 | ** Later in the same episode, Zhaban thinks Picard is being overly dramatic when the latter says, "''Bien, à la guillotine, alors''" (Well, to the guillotine, then) before his interview with the Federation News Network reporter. |
| 578 | ** In "The End Is the Beginning", Zhaban lists the contents of a bag of food which includes Madame Arnaud's ''terrine d'oie'' (goose terrine). |
| 579 | ** Later, Rios warns Picard, "It's about to get real hot ''chez vous'' (at your home)." An odd choice for the Hispanic Rios, unless he was playing on Picard's Frenchiness. |
| 580 | ** In "Stardust City Rag", Picard goes all-in on his FrenchJerk persona: |
| 581 | --->'''Hammy Picard''': When the Borg entered her, she was just a ''jeune fille'' (young girl). |
| 582 | ** In "Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2", Picard utters a mistimed "''Adieu''" (Farewell) after Riker ends their transmission. |
| 583 | * Enter in ''Series/TokumeiSentaiGobusters'', whose catchphrase is ''Ça va, Go-Busters?'' ("How are you, Go-Busters?") He's also fond of saying "non, non, non!" when trying to placate his BadBoss. He has many other French-isms. |
| 584 | * On ''Series/WhiteCollar'', Keller is guilty of this. |
| 585 | --> '''Keller:''' Are you familiar with the term... "Pis aller"?\ |
| 586 | '''Peter:''' My French is a little rusty. |
| 587 | ** Mozzie, too. |
| 588 | * ''Series/{{Yellowjackets}}'': in the flashbacks after the 1996 plane crash, [[{{Seers}} Lottie]], who is described in-universe as not doing well in French class, uses it as a sign of tapping into ''something'': |
| 589 | ** In "Blood Hive", during the séance, she goes in a trance and starts muttering, "''Il veut toujours du sang'' (He/it always wants blood)", "''Il veut plus de sang'' (He/it wants more blood)" and other equally unnerving phrases until she comes out of her trance [[MoodWhiplash via a teammate throwing her Bible at her.]] |
| 590 | ** In the Season 1 finale, "Sic Transit Gloria Mundi", she prays, with two of the other girls kneeling behind: |
| 591 | -->'''Lottie''': ''Versez le sang, mes beaux amis'' (Shed the blood, my beautiful friends). |
| 592 | [[/folder]] |
| 593 | |
| 594 | [[folder:Théâtre (Theatre)]] |
| 595 | * [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in the Act I finale of ''Theatre/{{Iolanthe}}'': While it has long been accepted as part of the English lexicon, peer and peri alike remind the audience that "the word 'prestige' is French." They also point out the origins of "canaille," [[GratuitousLatin "pleb,"]] and [[GratuitousGreek "hoi polloi"]] (which, incidentally, mean more or less the same thing). So you have "a Latin word, a Greek remark, and one that's French." |
| 596 | * In ''Theatre/AStreetcarNamedDesire'', Blanche briefly talks French to Mitch, but finds that he doesn't understand. |
| 597 | -->"Voulez-vous coucher avec moi ce soir? Vous ne comprenez pas? Ah, quel dommage!" [[note]]"Would you come to my bed tonight? You don't understand what I said? Such a pity."[[/note]] |
| 598 | * The Strauss opera ''Theatre/DieFledermaus'' has two characters pretending to be French at a Viennese ball. They exchange simple phrases until the other guests demand they speak German. Prince Orlofsky also has a song about his favorite French expression, "Chacun à son goût." |
| 599 | * ''Theatre/AnythingGoes'' has a chorus in which "bon voyage" is pronounced incorrectly and correctly, and a few other phrases are correctly rendered in French. |
| 600 | * ''Theatre/TheCatAndTheFiddle'', set in Brussels, has much spoken and sung French from major and minor characters. The final scene of the ShowWithinAShow is sung entirely in French, as is "The Night Was Made For Love" at the beginning of the show (the same character reprises it in English several times). |
| 601 | * In ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'', despite the setting being Denmark, Hamlet and his father both break in to French, saying "Adieu" instead "good-bye" for no apparent reason. Laertes, having returned from France, does not. |
| 602 | ** It may have something to do with the specific meaning of the phrase "àdieu" -- it literally means "at God", meaning that Hamlet and his father will see each other again in Heaven. This could be something of a vow, in Hamlet's case, that he would avenge his father and free his father's soul from Hell. |
| 603 | * In ''Theatre/{{Cabaret}}'', many of the phrases in the opening number "Willkommen" are sung in GratuitousGerman, then in Gratuitous French, then in GratuitousEnglish. |
| 604 | * In Act III, Scene I of ''Theatre/TwelfthNight'', Sir Andrew Aguecheek is SuddenlyBilingual enough to have a brief exchange with Viola in French. (Earlier in the play, he didn't even know the word "pourquoi".) |
| 605 | --> '''Sir Andrew:''' Dieu vous garde, monsieur.\ |
| 606 | '''Viola:''' Et vous aussi. Votre serviteur. |
| 607 | * In ''Theatre/{{Camelot}}'', though Lancelot's "C'est Moi" is entirely in English aside from the title, he also (at the start of the second act) sings to Guenevere a ''chanson'' whose first verse is in French. |
| 608 | * In ''Theatre/SouthPacific'', "Dites Moi" is entirely in French. Reasonable; it's a song being sung by two Malayo-French children. |
| 609 | * TheMusical ''Theatre/GentlemenPreferBlondes'' has some gratuitous French, particularly in the interlude to "Sunshine": "C'est la vie! Ah, mais oui! Soleil, soleil!" |
| 610 | * More [[Creator/WilliamShakespeare Shakespeare]] -- in ''Theatre/HenryV'', Princess Katherine of France and her lady-in-waiting Alice have a whole conversation in French. Bad French, but it does include the [[DoubleEntendre staples of any conversation in his plays]]. |
| 611 | * In ''Theatre/{{Matilda}}'', Mrs. Wormwood's part of "Miracle" has a line combining gratuitous French and Italian: "I should be dancing the tarantella, '''qui mon fella Italiano'''". |
| 612 | * ''Theatre/CityOfAngels'' plays this for a few quick jokes between Stine and Avril Raines, the starlet playing Mallory in the film: |
| 613 | -->'''Avril''': Avril's French for April.\ |
| 614 | '''Stine''': Oui, je sais.\ |
| 615 | '''Avril''': The only French I really know is my name.\ |
| 616 | ''[A few scenes later]''\ |
| 617 | '''Avril''': I can't thank you enough for [[SparedByTheAdaptation keeping Mallory alive]]. We both prayed so hard you would.\ |
| 618 | '''Stine''': [[ForeignCussWord Merde]].\ |
| 619 | '''Avril''': What?\ |
| 620 | '''Stine''' ''(With a tight smile)'': Look it up. |
| 621 | * In ''Theatre/AnyoneCanWhistle'', Fay and Hapgood converse in thickly-accented French with ''un peu de difficulté'': |
| 622 | -->'''Hapgood''': You're a woman--I adore women.\ |
| 623 | '''Fay''': And I adore ''docteurs''.\ |
| 624 | '''Hapgood''': ''Médecins''. You adore ''médecins''.\ |
| 625 | '''Fay''': ''Oui. J'adore des médecins parce que je suis une''--How do you say "nurse"? |
| 626 | * In ''Theatre/TheUnsinkableMollyBrown'', Mrs. [=McGlone=] and some of her Denver houseguests pepper their speech with French phrases such as "enchanté" and "excusez moi." Molly travels to Paris and learns to speak French even more fluently so she can show off to Mrs. [=McGlone=]. |
| 627 | * ''{{Theater/Twisted}}'': Gaston's IncomingHam moment is heralded by his belting out "AU CON-TRAIRE!" in response to Ursula claiming that "fortune favors the beautiful". |
| 628 | [[/folder]] |
| 629 | |
| 630 | |
| 631 | [[folder:Travaux de fans (Fan Works)]] |
| 632 | * ''Fanfic/StarWarsTheSithZero'': Happens when Louise speaks her native language (Fantasy-French) when the majority of characters speaking another language (Standard Galactic Basic... usually). One example is when Louise is threatening Ffon after he pressed her BerserkButton. |
| 633 | -->'''Louise''': If you ever call me that again, ''je te tuerai''.[[labelnote:translation]]"I will kill you."[[/labelnote]] |
| 634 | * ''Fanfic/TheChildOfLove'': Spoken by the managers of an arcade game center where the children often play. After meeting the owners, Shinji and Asuka learn some French words and use them every so often (it helps the fanfic’s writer is French): |
| 635 | -->'''Asuka''':''"I guess I'll need something fashionable..."''\ |
| 636 | '''Shinji''' (grinning, with a bad fake French accent):''"De préférence."''\ |
| 637 | '''Asuka''' (puzzled):''"Wh...what did you say?"''\ |
| 638 | '''Shinji''':''"Preferably, in French. The staff at AXL's Game Center taught me some cool French phrases, you know."'' |
| 639 | * ''Fanfic/RedFireRedPlanet'' has Ensign Jacques Pierre, who is from Quebec, say goodbye to his fiancee Ens. Kate [=McMillan=] as follows: |
| 640 | -->“''Je t’aime. Au revoir, ma chérie.''”[[labelnote:Translation]]"I love you. Goodbye, my darling."[[/labelnote]] |
| 641 | * In ''Fanfic/ChildOfTheStorm'', Jean-Paul Beaubier (in this canon, actually French as opposed to French-Canadian) sort of speaks like this, though it's mostly restricted to referring to someone as ''mon cher'' or ''ma cherie''. It's implied to be an affectation, however, along with most (but not all) the rest of his [[ObfuscatingStupidity harmless]] CampGay mannerisms, as it completely disappears when someone starts treading on thin ice. It's also shown that while he's fluent in English, he doesn't always know the right word or phrase. |
| 642 | ** In the sequel, Gambit shows similar tendencies. Because of the above, Carol, who speaks fluent French, bluntly tells him that it won't charm her. [[DistractedByTheSexy It kind of does, if only a little.]] |
| 643 | * In the MagicalGirl CrisisCrossover ''FanFic/ShatteredSkiesTheMorningLights'', BigBad Joker peppers his speech with French. It's deliberate TranslationConvention, given that he did the same with GratuitousEnglish in [[Anime/SmilePrecure his parent series]]. |
| 644 | * ''Fanfic/RainbowDoubleDashsLunaverse:'' Trixie occasionally lapses into Prench, being as she is in this setting from the pony equivalent of Louisiana, where they speak pidgin, though in the modern day she only ''usually'' does this when irritated, or talking about her family. When she's had too much to drink, on the other hand... |
| 645 | * In ''[[Fanfic/FullCircleOddSquad Full Circle]]'', a little over half of the agents working at Olive and Otto's Montreal precinct speak French. As the co-leader of the precinct, Olive also speaks French fluently, and demonstrates her skill when she tells Oliver about the three badge configuration options and holds another conversation with him, all in French. Likewise, Oliver can also speak French and does so fluently thanks to Olive teaching him, but in contrast, Otto is still in the process of learning the language. |
| 646 | --> '''Olive:''' You have got to learn French, Otto! We work in Montreal! A lot of our agents and clients speak French. In fact 56% of everyone here is bilingual and about 67% prefer French. Besides, I can't always be here to translate. That's the third time this week. |
| 647 | --> '''Otto:''' I know, I know! I'm working on it. |
| 648 | --> ''[Olive raises an eyebrow]'' |
| 649 | --> '''Otto:''' [[ImmediateSelfContradiction Okay, so I'm not]] ''[[ImmediateSelfContradiction exactly]]'' [[ImmediateSelfContradiction working on it.]] But I ''am'' listening to the French translations of Soundcheck's songs! You gotta give me points for that! |
| 650 | * ''Fanfic/AnythingForFamily'': [[Anime/HugttoPrecure Saaya Yakushiji]]'s online username is "langeparfait2". "L'ange parfait" is the French term for "the perfect angel". |
| 651 | [[/folder]] |
| 652 | |
| 653 | [[folder:La vie réelle (Real Life)]] |
| 654 | * Commonly seen in Quebec due to the province's language laws, leading to, for instance, Italian or Asian restaurants advertising their French names and signage in English-language ads running on Plattsburgh, NY/Burlington, VT or Ottawa, ON ([[TakeAThirdOption or English Quebec]]) TV stations, since Anglophones have to ''find'' the place in French. |
| 655 | ** In the same token, the northern regions of US border states with Quebec will have road signs that list both French and English names, and imperial (miles) and metric (kilometers) measurements. In particular, Vermont and New Hampshire's "you're now entering" signs often include both "welcome" and "bienvenue." Vermont is notable for having this bilingual greeting on the signs for its state capital, which is nowhere near the Canadian border. |
| 656 | * During some historical periods, French became so dominant among European nobility and academic circles that it often replaced the native languages in public conversation. For example, when King Gustav III of Sweden was shot in 1792 (in Sweden, surrounded by Swedes) his reaction was: "Ah! Je suis blessé. Tirez-moi d'ici et arrêtez-le". (I am wounded. Pull me out of here and stop him.) |
| 657 | ** Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte (a French provincial lawyer's son and one of UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte's marshals who through a singular chain of events ended up king of Sweden and Norway) managed to rule Sweden and Norway for 26 years (as Charles XIV and III John) without speaking a word of either Swedish or Norwegian. This was no problem at all, as anyone who was in a position to interact with the king was at least conversational in French anyway. |
| 658 | ** This explains why [[UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfHanover George II]], who was King of Great Britan, responded to his wife's deathbed plea that he take another wife after she passed with an impassioned "''Non, j'aurais des maîtresses!''" (No, I will have [[TheMistress mistresses]]!)[[note]]George and his wife had a PerfectlyArrangedMarriage - he had many mistresses during their marriage, but she not only knew of them, she approved of all of them beforehand, vetting them for both personal and political suitability (everyone, including the King, knew the Queen had a better head for politics than he did). They were devoted to each other, and when she died, he stuck to his word - he had many more mistresses but could not even think of having another wife.[[/note]] Note that George and his wife were both ethnic Germans who spoke German as a first language, and were both fluent (with accents, admittedly) in the major language (English) of the kingdom of which they were monarch and royal consort--but they still spoke French to each other. |
| 659 | * Indeed, '''England's national motto''' is "Dieu et mon Droit." (God and My Right) Yes, the motto of England, as well as the British Sovereign, is in French. |
| 660 | * For many of the same reasons that the British royals, French--especially Old French--is common in the legal profession in states adopting UsefulNotes/TheCommonLaw. That reason being--the common law was first established under the Old French-speaking Normans and Angevins, particularly [[UsefulNotes/HenryTheSecond Henry II Curtmantle]]. Thus for several centuries, the official language of the English courts was, oddly, French--specifically a formal register of the Norman dialects of Old and Middle French known as Norman Law French. Eventually, the law courts began to use English, but not before the English lawyers used when not before the courts was thoroughly peppered with Law French words and phrases. Like the [[GratuitousLatin Latin phrases]] in the law, much of the French really is gratuitous (e.g. ''profit a pendre'', which means ''exactly the same thing'' as the perfectly serviceable--if equally inscrutable--English phrase "right of common"). On the other hand, some is semi-necessary, e.g. ''pur autre vie'': while it could be and sometimes is replaced with "for the term of another life," the French is a lot more concise. In a few cases, the French really is necessary, like the word ''parol'' in "parol evidence": although the term means "oral" or "spoken" in the original French, this rule of contract law banning the use of oral pre-contract understandings to contradict written contracts now also--if not primarily--applies to written pre-contract understandings, and couldn't be really expressed with another more "English" word.[[note]]If you're confused by this: (1) you're like most lawyers, including many contract lawyers and (2) consider this example: Alice wants to buy Bob's computer, as she needs a computer and Bob's computer has a really cool Batman sticker on it. She dashes off an e-mail to Bob asking if Bob is willing to sell her the computer along with the sticker, and Bob sends and email back saying he'd be happy to. Alice and Bob meet and draft a contract of sale on the computer, saying that they will exchange Bob's computer for Alice's money the following Friday; the contract makes no mention of the Batman sticker. That Friday comes along and Bob shows up with the computer, but has taken the sticker off. Alice might then sue Bob for breach of contract, because she believed that the Batman sticker was part of the deal. Meanwhile, Bob will defend on the basis of the parol evidence rule (he might also have some sale-of-goods defenses under something like the American Uniform Commercial Code or the British Sale of Goods Act 1979, but we won't get into that) and therefore the Batman sticker is not part of the contract. Bob's argument is tenable because the emails were written before the contract and thus are "parol evidence" even though they are writings and not spoken, as implied by the original meaning of the word "parol(e)". Whether Bob's argument wins is complicated and varies based on where you are; Alice will win in some places and lose in others, depending on whether the contract they signed contained an "entire agreement" clause (which amounts to some magic words, really) and the law of the jurisdiction of the contract.[[/note]] Of course, Law French was around so long that a lot of Law French words have seeped into the common language and are not even recognized as French in contemporary English: see "recovery," "tort," "trove," "remainder," "jury," "larceny" (along with its qualifying adjectives, "petty" and "grand"), "parole," "attorney," "plaintiff," "defendant," "mortgage," "culprit"... |
| 661 | ** Towards the end of its life as a language of the courts in the 17th century, Law French got ridiculously and hilariously mixed with (early) modern English. One of the most famous lines of the late-17th-century law reports (dated 1688) reads as follows: |
| 662 | ---> ''Richardson Chief Justice de Common Banc al assises de Salisbury in Summer 1631 fuit assault per prisoner la condemne pur felony, que puis son condemnation ject un brickbat a le dit justice, que narrowly mist''[[note]]Translation--if you really need it: "Richardson, Chief Justice of the Common Bench of the assizes of Salisbury in Summer of 1631, was assaulted by a prisoner there condemned for felony, who after his condemnation threw a brickbat at the said justice, which narrowly missed."[[/note]] |
| 663 | * In Flanders (the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium) it is still common for people who consider themselves to be upper class to speak French amongst each other. Most other people look down on the ''bourgeoisie'' for that. |
| 664 | * Anthropologie (aside from its name) tends to sell products with nonsensical French brand names like "Moulinette Soeur" (Food Mill Sister) |
| 665 | * In translations of letters and speeches by Romans their own GratuitousGreek is sometimes replaced by French, as it has the same connotations but readers are slightly more likely to know what it means. |
| 666 | * As mentioned above, high-class French restaurants have a tendency to write their menus in French (even if the restaurant is in a country where the average citizen's knowledge of French is nil). Even if the menu is ostensibly in English, there would often be enough French culinary terms peppered to cause a beginner diner to go cross-eyed. |
| 667 | * Speaking of food, the meat names nearly always have French origin (but it is so old that you don't count it as gratuitous anymore). [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_words_with_dual_French_and_Anglo-Saxon_variations Have a list.]] |
| 668 | * The generally accepted plural of the English abbreviation "Mr." is "Messrs.", which stands for the French word ''messieurs''. |
| 669 | * In Japan, French language is commonly use in fields related to the image of France, like fashion or cuisine. They're frequently full of typos or various grammar mistakes (translated into French from other languages), to the point of sometimes being barely understandable by actual French-speakers. They actually are supposed to be decorative rather that informative. In French, those writings are refered as either "Franponais" ("Frenponese") or [[JapaneseRanguage "Flançais" ("Flench")]]. |
| 670 | * Train operator Greater Anglia features posters warning that only a few bicycles are allowed on a train. This poster features the phrase "Planning a Tour de Anglia?", using the same base as the Tour de France and Tour de Yorkshire[[note]]despite being in England, the name and onscreen graphics are in French, due to it being run by the organisers of the Tour de France and was instigated by the popularity of the event there, as the 2014 Grand Départ was in Leeds[[/note]]. However, this poster is incorrect in what an event would be called: the proper French name would be "Tour d’Anglie". |
| 671 | * A popular brand of cookie in Korea is known simply as "Avec," which means "With." This word is typically printed on the packaging all by itself. Considering some of these cookies are simple and plain, the word was most likely chosen [[AsLongAsItSoundsForeign to sound exotic and classy]]. |
| 672 | [[/folder]] |
| 673 | ---- |
| 674 | ''Très bien, très bien, mes amis! Vous êtes tous magnifiques.'' [[note]]Literally, "Very well, very well, my friends! You are all magnificent!." More idiomatically, "Very good, very good, my friends. You are all wonderful."[[/note]] |
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