Two baffling uses of κάνω

[Theseus]

-1) Σε τυπογραφείο είχε κάνει ο κυρ. Γαρύφαλλος. Does it here mean 'had worked' / 'had made a pretence of working'?
-2) -Δεν είναι και τόσο εύκολη δουλειά. Πρέπει να μην σε κουράζουν τα τρεχάματα, να κανείς παζάρια, να μεταχειρίζεσαι όλα τα μέσα για να κερδίσεις τον πελάτη.
- Ε, όσο γι' αυτό! έκανε ο Νίκος (said Nikos?).
I don't understand the meaning in context of the whole phrase In bold letters.
Thanks.

 

[AoratiMelani]

You got it right, more or less.

είχε κάνει σε = he had worked in / he had spent time at / he had been in
A similar use would be "είχε κάνει στο στρατό" = he had been in the army

έκανε ο Νίκος = said Nikos
This would take some more explaining, as this is not a simple "said", we use that expression to indicate Nikos put a special meaning in his words, or used a gesture, or implied more than he said, but I am afraid I cannot explain it any better than that. The expression is almost obsolete, however. I haven't seen it used in a long time.

 

[Theseus]

Ε, όσο γι' αυτό! έκανε ο Νίκος.
Thanks, AoratiMelani. Does then the above phrase in bold mean & 'and that's that!' said Nikos, heaving a sigh of relief. Or some such periphrasis.

 

[pontios]

Ε, όσο γι' αυτό! έκανε ο Νίκος.
Thanks, AoratiMelani. Does then the above phrase in bold mean & 'and that's that!' said Nikos, heaving a sigh of relief. Or some such periphrasis.

I could be wrong here, but I understand it to mean ....
as far as that (type of work, job requirement) goes, Nikos was suitable. Let's wait for those ITK; I'm just guessing.

 

[Theseus]

In the original, there is an exclamation mark after αυτό & these words from --Ε, όσο γι' αυτό! are apparently what Nikos says.

 

[pontios]

Ok, my bad, then, Theseus. I thought the exclamation marks were wrapped around the whole caboodle... "Ε, όσο γι' αυτό! έκανε ο Νίκος".

 

[Theseus]

What do you make of this snippet now, Pontios, with that punctuation?

 

[Palavra]

I could be wrong here, but I understand it to mean ....
as far as that (type of work, job requirement) goes, Nikos was suitable. Let's wait for those ITK; I'm just guessing.

No, this is not the case. As Aorati Melani said, κάνω means λέω. See here, under 12:

12. ως συνώνυμο του λέω, όταν μεταφέρουμε σε ευθύ λόγο τα λόγια κάποιου, συνήθ. σε επιφωνηματικές προτάσεις: Tι λες! φεύγεις κιόλας!, έκανε εκείνος. Συμφωνώ κι εγώ, κάνει ο άλλος. (έκφρ.) ~ κρα*. ώσπου να κάνεις φτου*.​

It's also very, very common when you're quoting someone in everyday conversations:
«Του είπα ότι αυτό που έλεγε δεν ήταν σωστό και μου κάνει “ξέρω εγώ τι λέω”».

 

[drsiebenmal]

I would translate «Ε, όσο γι' αυτό!» here with something like "Say that again!" or "You're right about that!". "As far as that goes" is probably a correct "standard" translation for «Ε, όσο γι' αυτό», but I think that there will be few occasions that you can really use this in a translation.

Practically, «Ε, όσο γι' αυτό!» shows a stronger affirmative position of the speaker.

 

[Palavra]

I agree. I would translate it as "to be sure", here.

 

[pontios]

What do you make of this snippet now, Pontios, with that punctuation?

I thought what you had highlighted in bold, in your OP, was the whole quote. Now that you've clarified it, I agree with everyone else, of course. You could retitle this thread by adding.... "plus a baffling absence of quotation marks (or clear thinking by pontios)".Thanks, Palavra, BTW .. κάνω almost equates to "goes", would you say??...as in, he goes, she goes..i.e. a more colloquialised version of "says"??

 

[Theseus]

Θενξ σε όλους σας για την βοήθεια.

 

[drsiebenmal]

Excellent! ;)

 

[daeman]

... BTW .. κάνω almost equates to "goes", would you say?...as in, he goes, she goes..i.e. a more colloquialised version of "says"?

Exactly, Pontios! As in sense 10.2 at Oxfordicts:

go informal [WITH DIRECT SPEECH] Say.

‘the kids go, ‘Yeah, sure.’’
‘I was still sat there when this cop comes up and goes, ‘You best be clearing off and getting home son.’’
‘John didn't really want to be that involved. I mean, I had a drink with him at Russo and Franks, and he goes, ‘It's your movie now!’’
‘Then this punk is like talking to his teacher, and the teacher goes, ‘You've got no grip on reality do you boy?’’
‘So I kind of went ‘yeah, good to meet you’, and he turned around and I never said another word to him; he couldn't have cared less!’
‘So now I look back at a lot of that stuff and I go, ‘What was I thinking?’’


And the colored girls go: "Doo do doo, doo do doo, doo do doo"
And the colored girls say: "Doo do doo, doo do doo, doo do doo"

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To add the ΛΚΝ dictionary entry for the first use of κάνω discussed here as Palavra did for the second one in post #8:

ΙΙΙ. 2. (στο αορ. θ.) περνώ, ζω ένα χρονικό διάστημα κάπου: Έκανε πολλά χρόνια στο εξωτερικό / ένα χρόνο στα σύνορα φαντάρος.

Dizzying, these dictionary entries for go and κάνω, covering so many senses, uses and phrases.
Μου φαίνεται πως, από ρήματα τουλάχιστον, μόνο το do και το set τα ξεπερνάνε.

They're gonna do me in:

those rats. Adding the thread soundtrack, too. She's gonna do you in - Boomtown Rats

 

[Theseus]

Yes, 'goes' is what we say. That is a great translation. The texts above, in the modern Greek textbook I am using, were punctuated exactly thus.
Thanks for all the information.