# Ignorance is bliss



## brazil_ana

Hey guys, how can I say this in Greek: 'Ignorance is bliss.'

Efcharisto!


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## orthophron

Hi.
Ignorance is bliss = Η άγνοια είναι ευτυχία (literal translation).

"I am in blissful ignorance" (_ironically_ for somebody being unaware of something unpleasant) = "έχω μαύρα/πλήρη μεσάνυκτα".


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## brazil_ana

That's great, thanks a lot, orthophron!


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## docnadia

brazil_ana said:


> Hey guys, how can I say this in Greek: 'Ignorance is bliss.'
> 
> Efcharisto!


 
Ola brazil_ana!

You could also use the religious version of the phrase you asked before, which is more common and widely used in Greece:

"Μακάριοι οι πτωχοί τω πνεύματι". 

This is in ancient greek and it literally means "Blessed those who ignore / whose spirit is limited".

Bye!!


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## brazil_ana

Another great version, efcharisto gia tora, docnadia!


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## orthophron

docnadia said:


> ... more common and widely used in Greece:
> "Μακάριοι οι πτωχοί τω πνεύματι"


 
Yes! That's what we say.  As a matter of fact "Μακάριοι οι πτωχοί τω πνεύματι" is full of irony (as is "to be in blissful ignorance"), while "έχω μαύρα μεσάνυκτα" is a metaphor - both used when speaking disparagingly of somebody.


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## ateaofimdomar

docnadia said:


> "Μακάριοι οι πτωχοί τω πνεύματι".


This is an extract from Mathew 5:3 and in English it translates as "blessed are the poor in spirit". In Portuguese, it is translated as "Bem-aventurados os pobres de espírito". Nothing to do with ignorance, I'd say.


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## Vagabond

Πνεύμα in Greek is both spirit and mental capacity. And the expression you'd use in Greek for "Ignorance is bliss" is exactly that (full of irony etc., as already mentioned).


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## Traduita

I think ateaofimdomar has a point here.  "Ignorance is bliss" refers to ignorance of a certain situation, or of widely known information. "Μακάριοι οι πτωχοί τω πνεύματι" is an obscure biblical phrase, no one is sure who the "poor in spirit" are. It is used by modern Greeks ironically sometimes when someone is being stupid, which is not the same as ignorant. It would translate much better as "Stupidity is bliss".


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## orthophron

We also say: "χαζό παιδί, χαρά γεμάτο" (a stupid child [is always] full of joy).


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## brazil_ana

can't thank you enough, guys!
=)


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## ateaofimdomar

Guys, as Traduita said, in English, "ignorance is bliss" refers to ignorance *of a certain situation*, or *of widely known information*.

As it says here, 



> Not knowing something is often more *comfortable *than knowing it._
> ‡ This proverb resembles “What you don’t know cannot hurt you.” It figures in a passage from “On a Distant Prospect of Eton College,” by the eighteenth-century English poet Thomas Gray: “Where ignorance is bliss, / ‘Tis folly to be wise.’”_


In English, the word "ignorance" does not mean stupidity in this case. It only means that you don't know something (either because you choose to ignore it or because you didn't happen to be informed of it); something along the lines of "είναι καλύτερα να μην ξέρεις" (it's better not to know) is a translation much closer to the meaning of the English expression.


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