Re: one of the enduring pieces of folk wisdom was uttered … - 翻譯

※ 引述《Dalloway ()》之銘言：
: Sorry, my computer's Chinese input methods doesn't work in BBS.
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: One of the enduring pieces of folk wisdom was uttered by the
: 19th-century humorist Artemus Ward, who warned his readers:
: "It ain't what you don't know that hurts you; it's what you
: know that just ain't so."
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: I've looked up 'utter' in the dictionaries and the most common
: and usual definitions of utter are "to speak, to say, to make sound,
: etc." A dictionary says that utter can also mean "to publish".
: I'm neither a translator nor an interpreter. I came across this
: sentence while reading an article, and have been curious why the
: author uses "utter" in this sentence.
: Personally, I don't think this 'utter' means 'speak or say' because
: folk wisdom, in my view, is something well known to everyone in that
: area. Therefore, there should be no need for Artemus Ward to speak it
: out.
: Why, then, does the author use 'utter'? And why there is 'readers'
: in the next sentence? What do you make of this sentence? Why do you
: think the author use 'uteer'?
: Any opinions would be appreciated. ^^
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Dalloway,
How about this:
Yes, there was the folk wisdom quite some people knew all along.
But perhaps no one before this humorist had ever put it in such
exact wording. Having read his work and maybe impressed by such
an utterance, people started to share the same old wisdom in
his words. So, I suppose "utter" is simply "say", only in this case
it is in a book. We do "say" things in books.

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