Word: mieux
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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Mendès' view might be put in the French saying, Reculer pour mieux sauter-take a step backward so as to jump better. He argues that by trying to be strong everywhere, France is strong nowhere, that strength cannot be achieved anywhere with an overburdened or propped-up economy. Says a British friend: "He does not argue that France should stand alone, but that France should stand erect...
About half the captions resemble this one in that you need no knowledge of French to appreciate them. But such Gallicisms as "taut is, ant mieux" (My aunt is so much happier since she made a telephone call") cannot be fully understood except by someone familiar enough with French to know what "taint" means...
Hearing of this, a French observer remarked that if the Communists become conciliatory, it would only be reader pour mieux sauter, which might be very freely translated as: "When the cat purrs, it's about to pounce...