The French expression “pas très catholique” translates literally to “not very Catholic” and could definitely be seen as a bit offensive. Here are some English meanings:
- a bit shady
- not very kosher
- a bit fishy
A French expressions site, expressio.fr, defines pas tres catholique as not conforming or complying with morality, subject to caution and doutful . Lerobert.com simply defines the expression as louche, which means fishy or shady.
Here’s an example sentence:
- Cet homme d’affaires est toujours en train de embobiner ses clients. À vrai dire, c’est un homme pas très catholique. This businessman is always bamboozling his customer. To be honest, he’s a bit shady.
Here are some more adjectives which mean shady or are synonymous with pas très catholique:
- louche
- véreux, véreuse
- suspect
