The figurative meaning of proverbs is that chickens are counted in the fall. What does the proverb mean: chickens count in the fall

Folk wisdom, expressed in proverbs and sayings and passed on to descendants by past generations, does not lose relevance over time. In these sayings, our ancestors share with us warnings, advice, and give recommendations. One of these aphorisms is “Chickens are counted in the fall.” Let’s try to understand the meaning of the proverb.

The history of the aphorism

Previous generations While learning about life, they used apt and intelligible expressions. Some of the most successful and topical sayings, which have an edifying meaning, have survived to this day. Although they could have been pronounced on a different occasion, the deep subtext embedded in them can easily be transferred to different sides modern life.

This expression arose from the life of Russian peasants who kept poultry on their farms. The fact is that Not all chicks hatched in the spring survived until the fall. After all, only 5-7 months after birth, poultry could be used for food or begin to lay eggs, i.e., be beneficial. So what's the point of counting useless chickens until they reach productive age?

After all, during this time a lot of things could have happened. Birds could be attacked by predators, die from disease, become victims of accidents or natural disasters. Thus, in order to plan how much meat and eggs can be obtained in the fall, it is necessary to always take into account the loss of chickens during the growth process, which means taking chicks with a reserve.

Of course, this saying applies not only to chickens and other pets. An individual expression gave birth to another, allegorical meaning. The aphorism must be understood in such a way that the final result of any work can be judged only after its completion.

Meaning of the proverb

What does it mean to “count chickens in the fall”? The essence of the expression is that The success of any business can only be judged after its completion. When making your plans, counting on an unlikely event (winning in gambling etc.), you can get hotly burned.

The meaning of the proverb is so broad that it covers all sides Everyday life, be it production, business or personal life. A person tends to exaggerate his abilities, dream, and believe in a bright future. All this is good if it is supported by your own work, risks are taken into account and a safety margin is created. But look how many people end up in debt pits, are exposed to unnecessary diseases and end up in unpleasant stories, which could have been avoided by listening to the wisdom of our ancestors, expressed in simple and understandable words.

The moral of the proverb is that you need to move towards your goal gradually, step by step, calculating possible obstacles. Of course, it is impossible to take into account everything, but to minimize Negative consequences your own actions are possible and necessary. Perhaps, by more often following warnings and recommendations, one could minimize the number of one’s own mistakes and avoid large quantity crippled destinies. People who indulge in empty dreams are rarely successful in life. Only a few get lucky, but millions pay off. Isn’t it better to realistically assess your prospects, rejoice at what you have achieved and set new, “earthly” goals?

Proverbs similar in meaning

There are several Russian proverbs that are close in meaning to the saying discussed above:

“do not share the skin of an unkilled bear”;
“don’t say hop until you jump over”;
"wait and see".

They also mean that you should not rush things, and you can rejoice at success only when you have achieved final result.

Other peoples of the world also have proverbs that carry a similar idea:

Interestingly, many of our volatile expressions have analogues in other languages. This means that regardless of different languages, social and political system, with all the differences way of life peoples, thinking is similar among people all over the world.

Knowledge of folk wisdom will help you avoid your own mistakes and warn loved ones against troubles. And the ability to apply the necessary aphorisms to a place will make speech bright, figurative, and communication productive.

All people know that individual can easily be fascinated by his own ideas about life, fall in love with illusions created with his own hands. You can cool his ardor with all sorts of phrases, one of them is “counting chickens in the fall.” We will consider the meaning of a proverb and or phraseological unit in this article.

Origin

History always helps us better understand the meaning of a particular expression. We will not disdain this technique this time either.

It is not difficult to understand that the speech pattern comes from village life. It was born from observing her. Not all chickens born in the summer lived until autumn, so the old-timers of the village urged not to rejoice at the large summer offspring of chickens and told the man: “Wait until autumn, and then you will count the chickens.” Why didn't the chicks survive? The reasons were different: poor health, wild animals and etc.

Meaning

Over time, the origin was forgotten, only the expression “chickens are counted in the fall” remained. The meaning of the proverb: do not draw premature conclusions, do not judge hastily, preliminary results are sometimes erroneous. However, it is always clearer with an example. Let's move on to the situation of use.

Example. Happy applicant and stern father

There is a famous idea by Viktor Frankl (famous psychologist) that suffering has the ability to fill all the space offered to it. For example, one girl broke her nail, and some man has terminal cancer, but they are equally unhappy. This is the paradox of suffering.

If we translate this statement by Frankl into the language of Russian folk wisdom, then with some reservations we can say this - one’s shirt is closer to the body.

Without contradicting the great psychologist, but complementing him, let’s say that it’s the same story with happiness. It fills a person completely, intoxicates him, and he cannot soberly assess his achievements and capabilities. Simply put, he cannot understand that chickens are counted in the fall (we revealed the meaning of the proverb a little earlier).

Known situation. Yesterday's happy schoolchild learned that he had entered a prestigious university in his city, for example, the Faculty of Philosophy. He runs home and shouts: “Dad, dad, I did it!” The father hugs his son and congratulates him. The inspired boy, drawn by euphoria and dreams, says to his father: “Dad, I will become the new Aristotle, I will put Nietzsche to shame!” The closest ancestor answers, laughing: “We’ll see, maybe it will be so, but just wait, chickens are counted in the fall, the meaning of the proverb, my dear, should not be forgotten.”

Morality of phraseology

Man is a creature that cannot live only in the present; he always regrets the past and looks to the future with hope. He always longs for the impossible. Religion and philosophy try to draw the attention of their ward to the beauty of the present moment. As Brodsky wrote: “Stop, a moment, you are not as beautiful as you are unique.”

Oddly enough, but folk wisdom speaks in unison with the classics of literature and spiritual practices. Because the expression “chickens are counted in the fall”, the meaning of the phraseological unit suggests that one must, first of all, appreciate currently and live, as English-speaking people say, step by step. Translated, this means “step by step”, i.e. moving from one life task to the other, without rushing to interpret the events happening around.

Each person comprehends the wisdom contained in life in his own way. Someone reads books, absorbs tons of them, they are like air, water or food to him, or maybe all together. And someone can read the phraseology “counting chickens in the fall” and understand their whole life, embrace its entire meaning.

True, it must be said that the ability to see the whole life wisdom comes not by divine inspiration, but by labor and patience.

All people know that an individual can easily be fascinated by his own ideas about life, fall in love with illusions created with his own hands. You can cool his ardor with all sorts of phrases, one of them is “counting chickens in the fall.” We will consider the meaning of a proverb and or phraseological unit in this article.

Origin

History always helps us better understand the meaning of a particular expression. We will not disdain this technique this time either.

Meaning

Example. Happy applicant and stern father

If we translate this statement by Frankl into the language of Russian folk wisdom, then with some reservations we can say this - one’s shirt is closer to the body.

Morality of phraseology

Oddly enough, folk wisdom is expressed in unison with the classics of literature and spiritual practices. Because the expression “chickens are counted in the fall”, the meaning of the phraseology suggests that you need, first of all, to appreciate the present moment and live, as English-speaking people say, step by step. Translated, this means “step by step,” i.e., moving from one life task to another, without rushing to interpret the events happening around.

True, it must be said that the ability to see all life’s wisdom in one phrase comes not through divine inspiration, but through work and patience.

In them we find advice, comments, warnings. The proverb “chickens are counted in the fall” also has a wise interpretation. It is of a recommendatory nature. In this article we will look at what it means to “count chickens in the fall.” Let's find out why this proverb appeared.

The meaning of phraseology

Sometimes people rejoice prematurely, anticipating positive results. But wise people say that over time a lot can change, we must wait for the final results. It is worth drawing conclusions when the work is completed. This is what it means to “count chickens in the fall.”

This proverb is very popular, so many people probably already know its meaning. But does everyone think about where it came from, why our ancestors spoke this way? Let's find out the reason for the creation of this expression, understand its deep meaning.

The history of the origin of the proverb

Our ancestors explored the world around them, and conveyed their life experiences through various expressions, which over time became stable phrases, sayings with an edifying meaning. Many of them have survived and survived to this day, like the proverb we are considering. It appeared thanks to peasants observing the life of chickens. Many of these chicks, born in the summer, did not survive until the fall. They could die for various reasons: due to pests from predators, diseases, etc. That is why they said that chickens should be counted in the fall, i.e. in the fall.

This expression began to apply not only to poultry. It has been used in various cases when someone wants to express the idea that things should be judged by their end results.

We looked at where the expression came from and what “counting chickens in the fall” means. Let’s find out how the proverb is applied in practice further.

Examples of using the expression

This proverb is found in the media, literature and colloquial speech. Due to its timeless relevance, it is often used.

The proverb was especially actively used during the five-year plans, when everyone was chasing large-scale results. For example, we meet her in Sergei Voronin’s novel “Two Lives”. It contains a dialogue in which one side says that at the end fourth year the five-year plan, the party will get good results, and the other responds that chickens are counted in the fall.

This proverb is also used in Semyon Babaevsky's novel "Cavalier of the Golden Star". In it, Ragulin notes that it is still unknown who will do more in this five-year period: in the fall, chickens are counted.

We need to wait for the results before drawing conclusions. This is what it means to “count chickens in the fall.” This is also shown by examples from Soviet classical prose.

In the section on the question What does the saying “Chickens are counted in the fall” mean? given by the author old world the best answer is Emphasizing the uselessness of something, the Japanese, in contrast to ours, “like an umbrella for a fish,” say: “like a fan in autumn.” Everyone has probably heard about the fact that “chickens are counted in the fall” - it’s a painfully common expression. By the way, the German analogue of the same thought is “not tied to autumn.”
- Man soll den Tag nicht vor dem Abend loben, - the Germans say that in literal translation means: you should not praise the day until the evening.
The chickens are counted in the fall - the outcome of the matter is clear at the end;
But in Rus' the chicken proverb had relatives. For example, the one that highlights the roles of the owners: woman, count the chickens in the fall, and, man, measure the bread in the spring. Or another, more transparent content: in the fall, the chickens will become chickens.

Answer from Neuropathologist[guru]
means that in other months they increase, disappear, decrease, fly away, etc.

Answer from Natalia Ryshkova[guru]
The chickens are counted in the fall - the outcome of the matter is clear at the end.

Answer from compound[newbie]
The fact that not every chicken will survive until the fall, may die, etc., etc.!

Answer from Anna Ivneva[guru]
So you need to wait before drawing conclusions.
Chicks hatch in the spring. By autumn, half may die, get lost, or be eaten by a cat.
Therefore, if you think in the spring, you will be wrong, but if you wait until the fall, you will be 100% right.

Answer from Vitalik Belogorodtsev[newbie]
The result of an action can only be accurately assessed at the end of that action.
As for chickens: with a competent approach to business, chickens are hatched in the spring, they grow all summer, are fattened, some are sent to better world for various reasons, but in the fall they look at how many full-fledged healthy chickens we have “at the end”. 🙂

Answer from Elegia[guru]
Do not draw conclusions and conclusions ahead of time. Done - then draw the line.

Answer from Secret[guru]
In the spring there are a lot of chickens, but in the summer they can be carried away by a hawk, or pecked by a falcon, and diseases can occur...
a lot of them will hatch, but it’s difficult to save them all, so we’ll count how many hens and cockerels in the fall...
in life they say that when they want to say it. that the RESULT OF THE BUSINESS is important, not its beginning...
you can plant ten trees, but only one will take root and survive

Answer from Alyonk@[guru]
“Chickens are counted in the fall” - this means that conclusions should be drawn only based on the results