"Putting the cart before the horse"

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In some languages it is even the same word - e.g. in German. One of the confusing issues in learning languages is the system of the prepositions. Even in closely related languages as German and English they are illogical and inconsistent.

i always presumed it meant to value the cart more than the horse.

maybe like in a bushfire, where someone struggles to save the cart instead of the horse. then he realizes the horse was much more needed than the cart.

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although alphabetically, "the cart" should be put before "the horse"

(direct link fail due to my low post count)
There's a web site, "usingenglish" under the "com" TLD, with a link to English Idioms under the "English Language Reference" block/section. There's an entry for "putting the cart before the horse", browseable under 'P' or search in the text box.

Seems like the "before" in the idiom is the spatial sense. As I understand things, carts are designed to be pulled, and horses are trained more for pulling than pushing (q.v. farm horses, chariots), so putting the cart in front of the horse is... um... honestly, I would think of this as meaning "futile exercise". Clearly from the context of the interjection, it implies something was said or done wrong, though. I would return the 'wth?' factor and ask the speaker directly what was meant by the phrase.

What really gets to me about the idiom, though, is that it's from an era before mechanical transportation (c. 1901?), and demands a modicum of intimacy with "ye olde ways." Hooray for progress?

whitetiger,

A horse pulls a cart. The cart doesn't pull the horse.
A tow truck pulls a broken-down car. The broken down car doesn't pull the tow truck.
A child pulls a wagon. The wagon doesn't pull the child.

In a slightly different way...
You put your socks on 'before' you put your shoes on.
You do not put your shoes on 'before' you put your socks on.

Does that make sense so far? There is an order in doing things. If you reverse that order, it won't work.

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A horse pulls a cart means the horse goes 'before' the cart. The cart doesn't go 'before' the horse. Picture it visually as though both the horse and the cart are in a parade.....

At the beginning of this parade are: a clown, then a girl twirling a baton, and then comes a horse pulling a cart.

In this parade, the horse has to come between the girl twirling the baton and the cart. ..........1st is the clown. 2nd is the girl twirling the baton. 3rd is the horse. 4th is the cart. In this parade, the horse comes 'before' the cart.....That is the proper order.

It doesn't work to do it this way: 1st is the clown. 2nd is the girl twirling the baton. 3rd is the cart. 4th is the horse.... The 3rd and 4th are reversed. The horse has to be 3rd. The cart has to be 4th. Because the horse pulls the cart. The cart doesn't pull the horse.

Does that make sense, did you follow that?

"Putting the cart before the horse" is an example of getting the sequence reversed.
"Putting your shoes on before putting your socks on" is also an example of getting the sequence reversed.

Thanks for the explanation. I have MAJOR problems with sequencing and a lot of that is because I have nonverbal learning disability on top of AS.

The 1st hit on Google also gives an easy to understand explanation http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/put-the-cart-before-the-horse.html

I always have trouble with phrases like this. The only way I can learn them is to assign a definition as if the phrase were just a new word I hadn't heard before.

I must have heard "jumping the gun" a thousand times, yet every time I always picture a gun on the ground with a person jumping over it. It takes a few seconds to find the definition I assigned to it.

I still don't get the horse and cart thing. Oh well.

Upsetting the horse cart topic

I am a very strong visual thinker and have no problems translating visuals into words, and words into visuals.. I just imagine a cart and a horse in the usual order (horse in front of cart). Then I reverse them, and see how odd this is (especially in a NT world).

Hope this helps. Or have I upset the apple cart?