I am amazed at the number of Turkish readers we have. The proverb I
posted–”Nerede cokluk, orada bokluk”–does indeed translate pretty much as
I posted it: “Where there are people, there is doo-doo.” It is used to
express the perception, which seems to be strong among Turks, that all human
affairs–especially those involving large numbers of people–contain an
irreducible and unavoidable component of disorder, mess, chaos, bungling,
stupidity, screw-up, SNAFU, FUBAR, monkeys trying to get intimate with
footballs, etc. etc. etc. The nearest American equivalent would
be–cleaning up the language a little–”stuff happens.” As a matter of
fact, in my experience, this sense of the chaos-potential of all group
activity is strongest among military people, presumably because in military
matters the consequences of it tend to be more dire.