When Gérard Larcher, president of the French Senate, recently told left-wing populist party leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon to ferme ta gueule (Shut the fuck up) before nine a.m. on French radio station RTL, it barely registered. Éric Ciotti, the Republicans’ president, added only, “Well done. Couldn’t say it better.”
Swearing has become a national sport in France. A recent Preply survey revealed that the French swear six times a day, on average, and that’s only online. (The fact that foreigners tend to stereotype the French as rude may be attributed to this phenomenon.)
And the French are equally enamored with insults. Guess where you can find at least three dictionaries dedicated exclusively to them. After all, this is where a hip-hop group named NTM (for Nique ta mère, or “Screw your mother”) became a cult sensation.
Now this colorful language has become a bit of a trend in French arts and crafts. At his atelier in Paris’s Place Vendôme, independent jeweler Lorenz Bäumer sells a tableware collection called Ange ou Démon (Angel or Demon). Plates are painted with little birds with names such as Greluche (bimbo), Bâtard (bastard), and Chieuse (pain in the ass).
The son of a diplomat who was born in Washington, D.C., Bäumer embodies French art de vivre and etiquette, along with a sharp sense of humor. “I had this idea while watching some friends go wild at a party,” he says. “This is just a different way to interact with your guests and start a conversation. Like an icebreaker.” And if it doesn’t make you smile? No one wants to have dinner with you anyway.
Irreverence has become a general theme for the new generation of entrepreneurs. Take Caroline Gazel, a former real-estate consultant who launched her ceramics brand, Porcelaine Moderne, in 2020. The tableware is delicate, trimmed with gold, and engraved with memorable phrases such as “Dirty bitch” and “Fuck all.”
Vincent Sardon’s Le Tampographe makes stamps with insults that bring a smile to your face, even if you’re just dreaming of sending it to the right person. Lucile, known on Instagram as @brodepute, refers to herself as a “feminist, irreverent hand-embroiderer,” and Céline Nardou revives classy vintage postcards with swear words, creating an anachronistic effect between an idealized version of France that no longer exists and its more rebellious present.
Mauvaise Compagnie designer Anaïs Bourdet uses swear words to make political statements. She records insults given to women in the street, such as feministe de merde (shitty feminist) and hystérique radicale (radical hysteric) on tote bags and T-shirts.
Fashion journalist Loïc Prigent has gone a step further, immortalizing these insults in three of his books. A personal favorite: “What origin is she from? Cunt.”
Katia Kulawick-Assante is a France-based writer
