January 2, 2011
I Need a French Idiom...
Friendly readers, I'm transcribing an interview, and the subject spoke a term I cannot understand or unpack. He is a Korean War vet, and he said that around the South Koreans, he and his fellow American paratroopers always had to be [unknown expression here], which he defined as "on the edge" or "at the ready"... meaning that you never knew whether a South Korean was on your side or secretly on the North's side.
The word or words he used were in French, he said; phonetically, they sound to me like "kay deeve."
Does any of you know enough idiomatic French (or Korean-War idioms) to hazard a guess as to what he actually said? He repeated it clearly several times at my prompting, but I still can't find the phrase on Babel Fish; sadly, he has since died, so I can't ask him what he said, at least not without the intervention of a Ouija Board.
Anybody have any idea what he was saying and how to spell it?
Thanks,
the Mgt.
Hatched by Dafydd on this day, January 2, 2011, at the time of 2:14 AM
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