Very good and accurate ! No caricature, simply explained, a great french course ! 
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Ha ha, reminds me of my Parisien born, though raised in Lorraine and elsewhere, ‘partner’
He moved back to Paris while still a young man, after working in Nice, Germany and ‘other parts’.
His childhood best friend Tony lived nearby in Gagny.
Tony later moved to Marseille and the two kept in occasional touch. We visited Tony a few years ago at his house on the outskirts of Marseille. You should have seen my ‘partners’ face when Tony pulled him into an embrace and kissed him on the cheeks. Wished I had thought to have my camera handy 
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Only man who does this to me, is a ‘Hairy Scotsman’, who has! lived here for 30 odd ( I mean, 30 plus, not ‘peculiar’) years! 
My French wife who was fairly refined in her ‘comportement,’ used ‘plouc’ fairly often without the slightest hint of embarrassment. She’d have never used ‘putain’ though which she and I thought of as a an almost exclusively male word. But she never swore in English (despite speaking it perfectly) and nor do I in French.
She did call toilet paper ‘papier cul’ though and so I did too - then one day I was in the supermarket and without thinking asked the assistant where the ‘papier cul’ (arse paper) was and got a very strange look. Quite right too.
My French is pretty good but the one thing I’m never easy with is losing my temper or expressing the fact that I’m unhappy with goods or behaviour. The reason is I’m simply never quite sure how rude/direct I’m being. On a couple of occasions I was clearly ruder than I had wanted or intended to be and it took a while for the effects to blow over.
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I was brought up to NOT use “bad language” of any sort… and when/if I hear it in French/English… I simply ignore it.
My favourite expletives are:
ce n’est pas ma faute 
MINCE !! 
and sometimes…
c’est dingue
c’est moche
ce n’est pas bon
ce n’est pas correct
that’s about it for me… the look on my face probably says far more than any words could… in any language. 
My son’s favourite phrase (though in English). 
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As far as mother was concerned, it was always my fault, so not worth protesting…
Here in France, when I say it… folk smile… tensions relax… magic…
“Unpleasant”? Take a chill-pill…
A village close to us has an annual fête des ploucswith attractions such as a soapbox derby. Just a wry poke at their own status in their eyes as local “hayseeds”.
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The ‘genuinely unsophisticated’ people I have lived with, in various places, I don’t think, many of them would have described themselves, or been happy to be described, as “Hayseeds” Dave.
There’s a politer term to use instead of ‘putain’ , namely, ‘punaise’. ‘Punaise’ literally means “bed bug,” just as someone very polite might say ’ shoot 'instead of 'shit ’ … ‘Putain’ is more widely used these days.
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Yes Patrick, that’s a very nice way to say it. We should all use it much more !
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I appreciate knowing that milder version. Although, I’m not sure why I ‘appreciate knowing’ it. This reflects on my desire to think poorly of others, but I guess I’m human and knowing that I’ve chosen an option to be milder, leads to milder poor reactions, I suppose. And then from there I can reform even more. Awareness is good as a start. Cheers.
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Mary… you can say “mince” pronounced “manse”… as an expletive in any situation and among any crowd whatsoever… you will offend no-one… 
Depending on how vehemently you say it… folk will understanding the strength of your feelings… 
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We’ve been to a colleague depature party tonight, arrived at 7pm (rendez vous time), everybody arrived one by one, saying hello took exactly 50 mInutes ! Then we started having a drink ! And we only give two kisses here, can you imagine if it was four ?
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No 