when to use adjective and noun versus noun and a genitive noun

Question

I tried to form the English sentence "he is public enemy number one" and came up with «Он общественный враг номер один», but google prefers «Он враг общества номер один», which to me means literally "he is the number one enemy of the public." I am wondering which one is more correct/sounds more natural.

I realize now that this specific example may be slightly idiomatic (using "number one" as an adjective), so here is another:

What is the difference between «Я слуга народа» and «Я народный слуга» ("I am a servant of the people/civil servant").

Which one sounds more natural?

Answer 1

For these two specific examples, here are the best options:

• "Он враг общества номер один"
• "Я слуга народа"

I would never use "Он общественный враг номер один" because it can imply two different things:

1. the enemy belongs to the public
2. he is the enemy of the public

The first one doesn't make sense logically, but it does grammatically. The second one is what you actually mean. So because of this ambiguity, I would never use this phrase.

As a side note, a better translation of "public enemy" is "враг народа", which is a commonly known, historically-used term. "враг общества" is absolutely fine, but you would use it if you'd like to specifically avoid using the common expression "враг народа", which may have negative connotations for some people.