# Don't count your chickens.



## Lemminkäinen

Hi all 

I'm looking for expressions similar to the English "don't count your chickens before the eggs have hatched".

In Norwegian we say "ikke selg skinnet før bjørnen er skutt", which means "don't sell the hide before the bear is shot" and carries the same meaning as the English expression.


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## jazyk

There's one in Portuguese, but it's not very nice: Não _conte com os ovos dentro do cu da galinha_ (Don't count on the eggs in the hen's ass), but I'm sure you could say _Não conte com os ovos antes de serem botados_ (... before they are laid) in polite society.


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## avalon2004

*No hay que vender la piel del oso antes de cazarlo* in Spanish which translates as "you shouldn't sell the skin of the bear before hunting it". 
*Il ne faut pas vendre la peau de l'ours (avant de l'avoir tué)* in French, which is basically the same as the Spanish except "before *killing* it".


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## avalon2004

In Italian it is:
*Non dire quattro finché non l'hai nel sacco* = Don't say (there's) four until you've got them in the sack/bag


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## Setwale_Charm

*Russian:* _цыплят по осени считают_ which is widely used and literally means: Chicken are not to be counted before autumn.

Another one is : _делить шкуру неубитого медв_едя
to divide the skin of an "unkilled" bear


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## Setwale_Charm

avalon2004 said:


> In Italian it is:
> *Non dire quattro finché non l'hai nel sacco* = Don't say (there's) four until you've got them in the sack/bag


 

  There is also a *Russian *equivalent closer to this Italian saying:  _Не говори "гоп", пока не перепрыгнешь!_ - Don`t say "hop" until you have jumped over it!


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## Outsider

There's another expression in Portuguese, _Não soltes foguetes antes da festa_, "Don't lift the rockets before the party".


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## cyanista

Germans say: _Man soll den Tag nicht vor dem Abend loben_ (lit. You shouldn't praise the day before it's evening).


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## kanojo_

In Slovenia we say:"Ne hvali dneva pred večerom". The literal English translation would be: Do not praise the day until the evening/night has come


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## Maja

In Serbian:"Prvo skoči pa reci 'hop'". (First jump and then say 'hop'.)


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## Lemminkäinen

Outsider said:


> There's another expression in Portuguese, _Não soltes foguetes antes da festa_, "Don't lift the rockets before the party".



This one's my favourite so far! 

It's interesting how some of these are very similar despite the difference between the languages, e.g. Norwegian and Spanish/French, and German and Slovene.


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## ameana7

There is a saying in Turkish which is "Dereyi görmeden, paçaları sıvama" It means literally "Do not enfold your lowest part of your trousers, before seeing river". We need a better translation but it is used exactly the same situations.


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## Jana337

cyanista said:


> Germans say: _Man soll den Tag nicht vor dem Abend loben_ (lit. You shouldn't praise the day before it's evening).





kanojo_ said:


> In Slovenia we say:"Ne hvali dneva pred večerom". The literal English translation would be: Do not praise the day until the evening/night has come


In Czech: Nechval dne před večerem. Same meaning.



Maja said:


> In Serbian:"Prvo skoči pa reci 'hop'". (First jump and then say 'hop'.)


Similar: Neříkej hop, dokud jsi neskočil - Don't say hop until you have jumped.

Jana


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## elroy

Lemminkäinen said:


> I'm looking for expressions similar to the English "don't count your chickens before the eggs have hatched".


 I'm trying to think of an Arabic one but in the meantime I want to comment on the English version. I've always said and heard "Don't count your chickens before *they hatch*."


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## Lemminkäinen

elroy said:


> I'm trying to think of an Arabic one but in the meantime I want to comment on the English version. I've always said and heard "Don't count your chickens before *they hatch*."



Yes, your version seems to be the correct one, beating mine in a google search with 23 600 to 6


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## Ilmo

Of course there are similar proverbs also in *Finnish*.

One about hunting is *Parempi pyy pivossa kuin kymmenen oksalla*, that is Better a bird in your hand than ten on the branch.

About the bear fur we say: *Älä nylje karhua ennen kuin se on kaadettu* Don't skin the bear before it has been shot.

But maybe the most common:
*Älä nuolaise ennen kuin tipahtaa* In the dictionary is has been translated: do not count your chickens before they are hatched, though literally it means: You should not lick it before it has dropped.
Of course, there is an error in this logic,because it is also too late to lick after it has already dropped.


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## Thomas1

There are a few in Polsh:
_Nie chwal dnia przed zachodem słońca._
Don't praise the day before the sunset.



Setwale_Charm said:


> [...]
> Another one is : _делить шкуру неубитого медв_едя
> to divide the skin of an "unkilled" bear


Similar in Polish:
_Dzielić skórę na niedźwiedziu._
To divide the hide on a bear.



Setwale_Charm said:


> There is also a *Russian *equivalent closer to this Italian saying: _Не говори "гоп", пока не перепрыгнешь!_ - Don`t say "hop" until you have jumped over it!


And this one is the same in Polish too:
_Nie mów hop zanim nie przeskoczysz._


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## betulina

In Catalan we say: 

"*No diguis blat fins que no sigui al sac i ben lligat*" (Don't say wheat until it is in the sack and well tied up -I hope I can make myself understood). 

And the most pessimistic even add: "*sense cap forat i cobrat*" (without holes and paid for).


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## Setwale_Charm

Thomas1 said:


> There are a few in Polsh:
> _Nie chwal dnia przed zachodem słońca._
> Don't praise the day before the sunset.
> 
> 
> Similar in Polish:
> _Dzielić skórę na niedźwiedziu._
> To divide the hide on a bear.
> 
> 
> And this one is the same in Polish too:
> _Nie mów hop zanim nie przeskoczysz._


 
 Terrible. Poles have plagiarised everything!!!  But interestingly, it goves food for thought cos I used to think that the Russian comes from "med" - "honey" and "ved`" - "knowing" but I see certain disparities now.


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## Flaminius

elroy said:


> I'm trying to think of an Arabic one but in the meantime I want to comment on the English version. I've always said and heard "Don't count your chickens before *they hatch*."



*English:*
I now see there are several versions but the form I know is:
Don't count your chickens before they *are hatched*.

*
Japanese:*
とらぬ狸の皮算用
(toranu tanuki-no kawadzan'yō)
Estimating the benefit of raccoon dog's hide before catching one.


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## olivinha

Outsider said:


> There's another expression in Portuguese, _Não soltes foguetes antes da festa_, "Don't lift the rockets before the party".


 
Oi, Outsider.
I don't really know this expression but wouldn't the translation be "Don't *shoot fire cracks* before the party."? Or you Portuguese people are such party animals that you launch rockets in your parties?  
O


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## Outsider

Well, I wasn't sure of the translation, either, so I looked up the word "fireworks" in this thesaurus. There I found the following:



> 'Rockets' are still the most popular form of firework. Rockets are lifted by recoil from the jet of fire created by the burning ingredients - and they are designed for maximum combustion and maximum thrust.


P.S. The 'party' means a religious holiday. You know, the public celebrations devoted to Catholic saints.


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## olivinha

Ah, ok, I had never seen "rocket" as a synonym for "fire cracks". So that means no real rockets in your parties? Darn! I pictured a big ol' NASA rocket in the middle of Lisbon...  
O


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## linguist786

Flaminius said:


> *English:*
> I now see there are several versions but the form I know is:
> Don't count your chickens before they *are hatched*.


That's the same one I've always known too 

It's a shame.. I can't think of an equivalent in Hindi/Urdu/Gujarati.
I might add them later if they comes to me.


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## Jeedade

Lemminkäinen said:


> In Norwegian we say "ikke selg skinnet før bjørnen er skutt", which means "don't sell the hide before the bear is shot" and carries the same meaning as the English expression.


In Dutch we say "verkoop de huid niet voor de beer geschoten is" which has the same meaning


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## cyberpedant

*"Call no man happy until he is dead”* Sophocles in Oedipus Tyrannus

cf.:http://www.wordwizard.com/ch_forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=18799&#48309


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## Encolpius

Interesting that bear stuff...   Hungarian -- Ne igyál előre a medve bőrére. [don't drink to the bear's skin in advance]


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## bibax

In Czech:

*dělit kůži medvěda, který ještě běhá po lese* = to divide the skin of the bear, that is still running in the forest;

In the Czech political slang a favourite pastime of our MP's:

*porcování medvěda* = portioning the bear _(the talks about certain part of the state budget in the Parliament, something like "pork barrel spending" in the USA)_;


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## apmoy70

In Greek we use the advice given by Solon -according to Herodotus- to the Lydian king Croesus, when the former met him in Sardis, Lydia:
*«Μηδένα πρό τοῦ τέλους μακάριζε»* (in MoGr pronunciation) [miˈðena pro tu ˈtelus maˈkaɾize] --> _Count no man happy until he be dead_


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