Michael Chugani 褚简宁 - don’t count your chickens before they are hatched.｜又中又英

It is unusual for fluent English speakers to make a mistake when using an age-old (very old) idiom but an elected US politician made a mistake when using one of the oldest idioms in the English language. Some historians believe it originated in 1570. He made the mistake during a TV interview about laws that would make it harder for Americans to buy guns. Stricter gun laws have become a hot-button issue after many shootings, including in a supermarket where 10 people died and at a school where 21 were killed. A hot-button issue is an issue that makes people have strong emotions and opinions. Democratic reform was a hot-button issue in Hong Kong but no longer because of the national security law.
As I have explained in a recent column, the Second Amendment of the US Constitution, written 250 years ago, gives citizens the right to bear arms, which means to carry weapons. After decades of disagreement the US Senate has tentatively agreed to a new gun control law. The proposal must pass both the US Senate and House of Representatives before it can become law. When the politician was asked on TV if he was confident he said “don’t count your eggs before they are hatched”. The correct idiom is “don’t count your chickens before they are hatched”. If you want your eggs to hatch, which means for them to break so chickens can come out, there is no point counting the eggs because some may not hatch.

If you want to know how many chickens you will have, count the chickens after the eggs have hatched, not before. The expression “don’t count your chickens before they are hatched” means you shouldn’t expect something to happen before it has actually happened. If you tell your friends you are sure you will get the high-paying job you applied for, your friends may say “don’t count your chickens before they are hatched.”
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操流利英语的人在用一个古老（age-old）的成语时出错，是很少见的，但一名当选的美国政客，在使用其中一个最古老的英文成语时却说错了。一些历史学家相信，该成语源自一五七○年。他是在一个电视访问期间说错的，当时正在谈着令美国人更难买枪械的法例。发生了那许多枪击案，包括在一间超市内有十人丧生，以及在校园内有二十一人被杀之后，更严厉的枪械管制法成为了hot-button话题——a hot-button issue是指一个令人有强烈感受和意见的敏感话题。民主改革在香港曾是敏感话题（hot-button），但现在因为国安法，已不再是一个敏感热话了。

我曾在最近的文章里解释过，于二百五十年前定立的美国宪法第二修正案，容许市民有权利持有及携带枪枝（bear arms）。经过数十年的争吵，美国参议院临时通过一条新的枪械管制法。当那名政客在电视上被问到他对此是否有信心时，他说：“don’t count your eggs before they are hatched”，然而，正确的成语是“don’t count your chickens before they are hatched”。若你想鸡蛋孵化（hatch），鸡仔破壳而出，数算鸡蛋是无意思的，因为当中有些并不会孵出（hatch）鸡仔。

若你想知道你将会有几多只鸡，你应该在鸡蛋孵化之后，而非之前，去点算鸡只。习语“don’t count your chickens before they are hatched”，意思就是在事情真正发生之前，话别说太早，或过早打响如意算盘，因为事情仍然存在许多变数。若你告诉你的朋友们，你申请的一份高薪厚职一定到手，朋友们希望你别高兴得太早，便可以说“don’t count your chickens before they are hatched”。
Michael Chugani 褚简宁