Take the higher ground

09:04 Nov 21, 2018 

Thank U all .. I still think "Vise plus haut" would have been the correct answer but in that specific dialog I chose to go with "Surveille tes arrières".
@ Daryo
Yes, the whole movie is "more context" but that scene lasted 2mn and Man 1 never came back ! I said that there was nothing more I meant that there were no other words exchanged at that point and that this ended the scene.
Thank U all

07:58 Nov 21, 2018 

Similarly, "two up, one back" is a slightly odd way to describe the location of a building, or one dwelling within a building; we might say "second building along, and then the one behind it", or "second floor, rear flat" — old descriptions of rooms to let would often say '3rd floor back' ('fenêtre sur cour'); had this been anything other than 2/1, one might have had little choice but to take it geographically.
HOWEVER, the specific (and almost invariable) common expression "2 steps forward and 1 step back" in this instance, and again, when talking about failures / successes at work, simply draws us to the more figurative interpretation.

07:56 Nov 21, 2018 

What is wrong with a literal interpretation (assuming this is native-speaker EN) is that it would be an unusual and not terrinly natural way to express the ideas you propose: you might say "go up the hill" or "keep to the top of the hille" or "take the left-hand fork" ("Ye'll take the high road and I'll take the low road...") or "in the event of flooding, move to higher ground", but the combined use of 'take' with the terrain + the use of the comparitive 'higher' with 'ground' are curious and sound slightly odd to my native ears, at least.
HOWEVER, 'to take the moral high ground' is a very commong expression, and does (ptoentially) lead on from a discussion about success / failure at work.

00:00 Nov 21, 2018 

with what you have given so far, trying to answer your question is about as efficient as trying to inject some meaning into a Rorschach test.

You ***DO*** have more context: the whole movie, i.e. the whole script AND clues you can pick up while watching the whole movie. How much of it you could share is another matter.

23:41 Nov 20, 2018 

interpretation of "higher ground" ???

One of them just got invited by the other to come to diner - the most basic practical aspect to take into account is HOW TO GET THERE.

When you try to arrange a meeting of any kind, do you go into discussions about the meaning of life, the age of the universe, and the strangeness of quantum physics or instead of looking at the stars you pay attention to the gutters?

Just my gut feeling - far far more context needed to be sure of anything.

19:14 Nov 19, 2018 

I don't honestly think so; I think the idea is more "don't be discouraged, let it all wash over you, morally you know you're in the right, so you can rise above this temporary setback"
I understand there is a certain element of 'recul' in that, but I don't think it's the key thrust (otherwise he might have said "take a step back from it", for example)

18:36 Nov 19, 2018 

Je sais que ce n'est pas la trad. habituelle de higher ground, qui est plutôt « adopter un point de vue moral », etc., mais un peu à la suite du commentaire de Tony M (si j'ai bien compris, plus ou moins : faire des progrès petit à petit), « prendre du recul » par rapport à ce que H1 vient de vivre ?

12:10 Nov 19, 2018 

Please refer to my discussion post on your other question about this expression.