Pardon my French

Factual Questions
1

When someone utters a vulgarity or obscenity and follow it up with ‘Pardon my French’, is the implication ‘I’m sorry, but the word I just said is actually a French word; and unfortunately it happens to sound exactly like the obscene English word you heard. But it’s really not obscene; just an unfortunate-sounding French word.’? Or is it, ‘I’m sorry, but I’ve been in the trenches fighting the Hun. I fear this is the “French” I learned there.’?

Or to put it more succinctly: Is the speaker implying that he’s using a foreign word; or that he’s speaking as he did in the war?

2

from this site

The word ‘French’ has long been used in the English language to express crudeness, stemming from the rivalry, envy and xenophobia that has characterised England’s relationship with France and the French for more than a thousand years.
More info in the link. I cannot speak for it’s veracity though.

3

This site claims that the first use of PArdon my French is from 1895.

4

I know that it probably doesn’t have anything to do with the origins of the expression, but whenever I hear ‘pardon my french’ I remember the tidbit that the french term for ‘dolphin’ is something that sounds a little bit like the F-word.

5

I thought that the French for Dolphin was Dauphin but maybe there’s another French word for it.

6

You’re thinking of “seal”, which is “phoque” (if i can spell properly…) and would sound the same as “fuck” to American ears.