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In German, there is a phrase like "dangerous semi-knowledge" gefährliches Halbwissen. Wiktionary definition:

a degree of superficial knowledge that becomes dangerous or deceptive because it has one trust one’s own amateurish judgment

I can't think of any equivalent in English. Any ideas?

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  • Dangerous superficial knowledge!
    – user 66974
    Commented Sep 21, 2023 at 8:13
  • That's one of the senses of "common knowledge" -- "facts" that aren't true but are commonly accepted by far too many people.
    – John Lawler
    Commented Sep 21, 2023 at 19:45
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    I have deleted my answer after posting on SE German Language. It turns out that "Halbwahrheit" exists, and is the obvious equivalent of "half-truth", whereas there is no equivalent single English noun to "Halbwissen".
    – David
    Commented Sep 21, 2023 at 21:08

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In English, we'd say that someone who behaves in that way exhibits the Dunning-Kruger effect: from Wikipedia, "In popular culture ... a claim about general overconfidence of people with low intelligence", although as the article points out, the original paper discussed competence in a professional environment rather than generally.

We might also say that they "know just enough to be dangerous", although that isn't really a stock phrase.

There's also a well-known quotation:

A little Learning is a dangerous thing

Alexander Pope, An Essay on Criticism (1711).

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    Pope's original quote is probably better known as: a little knowledge is a dangerous thing
    – Mari-Lou A
    Commented Sep 21, 2023 at 10:23
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    @Mari-Lou A There doesn't seem to be a great difference in their idiomaticity. I learned the 'learning' variant.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Sep 21, 2023 at 10:28
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    @EdwinAshworth that's probably because you were born in an age where trains ran on steam... :P P.S I'm not far behind.
    – Mari-Lou A
    Commented Sep 21, 2023 at 10:33
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    @Mari-Lou A You're a tender?
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Sep 21, 2023 at 11:01
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    @EdwinAshworth Very funny, yes. I might be described as looking like a tank :)
    – Mari-Lou A
    Commented Sep 21, 2023 at 11:13

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