"Putting the cart before the horse"

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I was once at an Asperger's support group and the facilitator actually told me I was "putting the cart before the horse." Like, she should have known better!

I don't get it. "Before" can also mean "in front of."

I get that it must have to do with putting things in the wrong order. Maybe it has to do with priorities, which I am very lame at figuring out?

What does the horse have to do with it? A horse propells energy and the cart would stop it if it was in front of the horse. But, in that situation, my energy wasn't stopped. I was still moving forward.

Comments?

All I'm thinking now is

huh?

does it mean your putting others before yourself as your helping others

A horse pulls a cart, from in front of the cart. (You are correct that is the meaning of "before" in the context of this idiom.) If the cart is before the horse, the horse can't pull it. She meant you were doing things in the wrong sequence.

I think the "before" is chronological; and that the metaphor is referring to the fact that if you aquire a cart before you aquire a horse, then the cart is pretty useless without a horse to pull it. At least that's how I've always understood it.

How will we ever know whether or not horses can push a cart as well as they can pull it unless we give them a chance to try it?

A la carte topic

Elephants are good at pushing. No wonder putting the elephant first never caught on!

I like metaphors, as they are so visual and I also question them. Good one, CM.

I was also told years ago the horse-cart thing was like "jumping the gun". This is when someone lined up for a race starts before the starter's pistol is fired. Out of sequence, as arielhawksqull stated.

page of the idiot.. erm, idiom

Basically means you are doing things backwards.

Backasswards topic

This is also a funny visual!!

That phrase confused me.

I find the thread hilarious and entertaining and hope this isn't too off-topic or extremely weird..

Agree with those of you who said it means "out of sequence".

*****

I have a theory that autistics have a genetic predisposition toward non-linear thinking, which [from 3D perspective] is failure to recognize space/time and interpret it as reality. In the higher dimensions, it is perhaps more easily realized that space/time is a figment of our imagination. Therefore if autistics do not recognize space/time mental constructs which tend to be necessary for efficiently navigating our everyday social reality...it could be uber easy for us to access the higher dimensions [if they exist] instead.

My theory, based upon what Richard Hoagland [NASA scientist] said several years ago in a magazine interview is that ---when we mentally return to the third dimension from mentally visiting a higher dimension...we have an excess of energy that must be disipated in some way. Thus stimming [or one reason we stim]. I've suspected all my life that the energy young autistic children expell through hand flapping and spinning plates is proof they've been to a higher dimension [and belong to a higher dimension due to their genetic makeup and obviously prefer spending time there]. Especially the autistic savants. The way they do their lightning fast computation is through visitations to higher dimensions and then returning to this one with the results. Bridging two dimensions simultaneously is the way autism is supposed to function, IMO.

Linear thinking generally presupposes cause-effect relationships which in turn require sequential processing. In other words, many processes seem to demand a sequential order for them to occur - a whole lot of them that can be scientifically measured and verified. However we've also known for centuries that certain chemical reactions proceed BOTH WAYS. In other words, the cause effect relationship is nullified--- in that the effect can cause the cause just as the cause can cause the effect..... i.e., the sequence can proceed either way. This could also imply that time itself does run in both directions or maybe that it doesn't run in any direction. For most NTs, this is counter-intuitive. For many autistics, it could very well be our natural way of thinking and understanding.

In the new quantum theory....what happens today can affect what happened 20 years ago. And what you will be doing 20 years from now can affect what you are doing today. Time goes in both directions and may do so simultaneously. This is how non-linear thinking works. When everything you do, think, feel and perceive is based on a non-linear approach to things....it would be foreign to your intuition to understand sequential processing and metaphors designed to explain sequential processing.

Maybe someone could explain this better.

I'm honestly STILL confused about the cart and the horse, despite all the numerous and different answers about what it could mean. Is it because my spatial/temporal sense is so off? I just don't get it.

Did you say or do anything for them to say it?

I think phrases should not be uttered at Asperger's groups to avoid much confusion.

To me it means doing things in the wrong order, and I'm a person that needs strict order to get things done, like basic household chores.

It could also refer to pusing the cart rather than pulling it along, figuratively of course, meaning putting in way too much effort for the task that needs to get done. But I am really not sure.

It is AMAZING how many people think horses are just plain DUMB! In "true lies" arnold's character tries to get a horse to do a near impossible jump, and is SHOCKED that the horse WON'T! That REALLY happens. A horse wouldn't even WANT to push a cart. Who could blame it?

Regardless of the EXACT meaning, the understood meaning is doing things in the wrong order.

This COULD have to do with worrying about making friends, before having the ability to go out to do it. It could have with worrying about a situation before it is a problem.

What was the context in which it was said to you? For instance, were you discussing plans to do something which couldn't occur until you did something else first?