I think it came up in a movie, or something, and was used more in terms of good will than actual cash in that setting - A does B a favor, B tries to return the favor, A graciously declines and tells B to do something for someone else sometime, which is the situation in your example.
1
nutraxfornerves
I have never heard the expression "pay it forward" before, but I have run into it twice in the last couple of weeks. The Help section of this branch talks about the "question" feature:
>By deliberately marking your post as a question, it lets the community know you are looking for answers, enables you to track progress and also lets you nominate the most suitable or helpful answer to pay it forward to other members.
And from another message board, about dealing with people who try to push their way to the front of a line/queue:
>Personally I would have spoken up for the girl. In similar situations I have said "Oh the young lady in red was behind me - the woman in purple is trying to jump the line" in my teacher voice. I consider it paying forward for the people that stood up for me when I as child [was too shy to stand up for myself].
Wikipedia says
>The expression "pay it forward" is used by a creditor who offers the debtor the option of paying the debt forward to a third person instead of paying it back.
How did I ever miss this one? Is it regional in some way? How is it used?
2
shilgia
If Oprah uses it , can it be regional?
I've heard it before, I think in the context of a game, but I'm struggling to remember what and where exactly. I guess it was a game where something passed from one player to the next.
4
sneaker_fish
I love the idea on a pure and simple basis. Not as interested in the big picture stuff as I don't know enough about it and I like the idea of doing something good for a person and having them pay it 'forward' to another person rather than back.
5
turnipseed
I don't recall where I first heard it or saw it, but I'm sure it was in some media, not in any personal context, so I'm sure it's not regional. I probably have seen it in places like Oprah magazine.
Where I've run across it, it's in the sense that we use "pay it back" to mean fulfilling my end of a bargain, which may be implied or assumed: you did something nice for me, I pay you back by reciprocating. But this keeps an exchange of favours within a closed circle. Essentially, it's tit for tat. We might see it almost as a contractual arrangement, "the norm of reciprocity."
But paying it forward takes that friendly, positive encounter and expands it: you did something nice for me, so I'll use you as a good example and go on to do something nice for someone else.
My take on it is that we may be obligated to pay something back, but real growth would lie in paying it forward. And the word "forward" has a very positive affirming ring to it, too.
I like it a lot.
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