pas très catholique

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

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