you can pay it forward, can you thank it forward?

Question

I was writing my email signature for my email at work, and i was wondering, I saw the movie "pay it forward" ages ago and I always wondered if you could say "thanks forward"

I'm not a native English speaker and I've studied it for years and I'm going to get a degree on it, but you know, this is more than grammar native competence

Answer 1

Yes, I think you can "thank it forward." It's just a matter of how you interpret, "pay it forward."

In my opinion, "thank it forward," is just another way of saying, "pay it forward." For example, when someone does a good deed for me, I may choose to pay them back as a way of saying, "thank you," to them. But instead, "Pay It Forward," suggests that I should do good deeds for other people, which is kind of like saying that instead of paying back people for the good deeds they've done for me, I should do good deeds for other people as a way of saying, "thank you," for people who've done good deeds for me. In other words, instead of "thanking them back" for good deeds that people have done for me, I'm "thanking it forward," by "paying it forward," and doing good deeds for other people.

Another way you can interpret, "thank it forward," is: thanking people ahead of time; before someone does a good deed for you, as opposed to thanking them after the good deed is done for you. For instance, thanking someone in advance for doing me a favour, could be interpreted as "thank it forward," as opposed to thanking them after they've done me a favour, in which case I'd be "thanking them back." Although this a weaker, less meaningful interpretation that has no relation to "Pay It Forward," it is, nonetheless, another way you can "thank it forward."

Answer 2

The idea of "pay it forward" is that you do good deeds to people in acknowledgement of the good deeds done by others for you.

I don't see how that can work with "thank you"s.