# σοφός λαός



## marka

μπορεί κάποιος να μου δώσει μια καλή ιδέα να μεταφράσω τη φράση : ο σοφός λαός έχει ένα μοναδικό τρόπο να...


ευχαριστώ


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## cougr

_Wise people have a unique way to_/with.......


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## ireney

I'm not quite sure this is an accurate translation. I mean, doesn't "wise people" mean "those persons/people who are wise"?
Whereas here I think we have more a case of the wisdom of the common people or, more likely, the wisdom of traditional sayings and whatnot. 
Marka, καλώς ήρθες στο φόρουμ! Έχω δίκιο; Μιλάμε για λαϊκή θυμοσοφία ή κάτι τέτοιο;


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## cougr

Hi ireney, it's good to see you pop in from time to time. I'm pretty sure that even if it were the case as you describe above, the expression "wise people" would very likely still apply, perhaps only requiring some slight tweaking to suit the relevant context (which we don't have) eg. "_The_ wise people/s" or "wise folk".

As an example, the following sentence, _Όπως λέει και ο σοφός λαός_ _«add your favorite saying»_ could adequately be rendered _"As wise people say............"._ 

Also, the expression "wise people" isn't always used in a strict literal sense that specifically denotes "those persons who are wise" but is often used generically to refer to a population of people/s as a whole (sometimes in an effort to appeal to and appease a people's sense of wisdom). For example, in the following sentence, _"I trust that the wise people of the State of New York will use the coming elections to......"_, the term "wise people" doesn't necessarily refer to only those people of New York that are wise but instead may be taken as referring to the broader population of New York.


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## ireney

Hey there cougr! Nice to find some time to do more than modding for a change!

Now, obviously, I'm not a native English speaker, but the thing is, maybe it's the absence of "the" before the "wise people" that bothers me? I mean, it still seems to me that "wise people do so and so" means something different than "ο σοφός λαός" or is more ambiguous I guess. Could very well be wrong of course!


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## cougr

You're right, perhaps _"The_ wise people" is a better choice in this case.


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## marka

Καλησπέρα Ireney, αν και καθυστερημένα σου απαντάω ότι όντως το κείμενο εννοούσε τον θυμόσοφο ελληνικό λαό και δεν ταίριαζε και κατά τη δική μου γνώμη το wise people.


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## marka

ευχαριστώ για το καλωσόρισμα!


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