History Main / GratuitousFrench

->'''Apple Bloom:''' Sacre bleu! Plus de Marques de Cutie! ''[{{gasp}}s]'' Qu'est-ce c'est? Je parle Français!?[[note]]Darn it! More Cutie Marks! ''[{{gasp}}s]'' What's this? I'm speaking French!?[[/note]]\\

* ''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).

*** Mitsuru Kirijo is prone to dropping a phrase or two at times, at least in the English dub. Then again, considering that she's [[TheSmartGuy the girl with the highest marks in school]], she might actually know a fair bit of French.

* Music/MiracleMusical: The bridge of "宇宙ステーションのレベル7":

* The ''VideoGame/TaikoNoTatsujin" song "Jobutsu2000" has its main lyrics being a woman repeating the number "37564" in French (37564 sounds like "kill everyone" in Japanese) and the start and near the end of the song, and says something about accepting death in the middle. There are also some instances of "J'ai Faim!" (I'm hungry).

* 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 he 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.

[[folder:Radio]]

* 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.

* 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, he doesn't know what most words in English mean either, and he's never let that stop him.

* Music/FlightOfTheConchords perform Foux de Fa Fa, which is basically the fragments of French that they remember from school shoehorned into song form to try to impress women.

* ''Anime/DiGiCharat'': So gratuitous, [[SpellMyNameWithAnS translators don't even realize it's meant to be French.]]

* Music/{{Blondie}} did this a few times, including a complete verse of French for the version of "Sunday Girl" used for their GreatestHitsAlbum.

* In ''Film/DoctorAtLarge'', Sir Charles struggles to use some French words on holiday:
-->'''Sir Charles''': Oh, pardon, madame, er mad-mademoiselle.

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 [[TrueArtIsIncomprehensible pretentious bohemian character]] who [[IRejectYourReality lives in a world of their own]] and [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} has no idea how reality works]].

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEmfMte3L4A&t=1m40s In the Season 2 First Look Scene,]] the Parisian vampire Armand talks to Louis mostly in English except for when he responds to a compliment with "''Merci''."

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]]

This may be because of a certain... ''[[EverythingSoundsSexierInFrench je ne sais quoi]],''[[note]]"indescribable quality". 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 [[TrueArtIsIncomprehensible pretentious bohemian character]] who [[IRejectYourReality lives in a world of their own]] and [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} has no idea how reality works]].

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.]]

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.

* ''Series/InterviewWithTheVampire2022'': 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.