Don’t Count Your Chickens Before They Hatch
Don’t count your chickens before they hatch is an English proverb about expectations. The phrase warns us against counting on something to happen. We shouldn’t take things for granted (expecting a certain result). The proverb is an allusion to a chicken farmer who expects all his eggs to hatch and become chickens. With natural incubation, the farmer should expect 75% to 80% of the eggs to hatch. If the farmer makes plans based on 100% hatching, he will be disappointed.
The proverb, don’t count your chickens before they hatch, tells us not to make plans based on expected results. It also tells us that not all our hopes and plans will come true.
Example: “After I build my business, I will have enough money to buy a house.” “Don’t count your chickens before they hatch. First you need to build your business.”
Example: “After I finish high school, I will attend university to become a doctor, then I will create my own clinic and get rich.” “Don’t count your chickens before they hatch. You never know what will happen in your life.”
This is a very old fable that predates English. It has existed in many forms and cultures. It can be found in Aesop’s fables, which originated in 600 – 500 BC. A woman was carrying a basket of eggs. She was thinking about how much money she could sell the hatched chicks for when she dropped the basket. All of the eggs were broken.
It was first recorded in English in 1570. In New Sonnets and Pretty Pamphlets, Thomas Howell wrote, “Counte not they Chickens that vnhatched be, Waye wordes as winde, till thou finde certaintee.” In modern English: “Don’t count your unhatched chickens. Weigh words like wind (no value) until you find certainty.”
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Reference:
http://www.fao.org/3/y5169e/y5169e06.htm
https://www.theidioms.com/dont-count-your-chickens-before-they-hatch/
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/don%27t_count_your_chickens_before_they%27re_hatched
https://literarydevices.net/count-your-chickens/
http://www.english-for-students.com/Do-not-count.html