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Another think coming - the plot thickens (thiggens?)

Posted by TheFallen on October 11, 2002

In Reply to: Another thinG coming posted by Ed Stansell on October 11, 2002

: : : : Can anyone help solve an office argument?

: : : : Is the following phrase correct:

: : : : If you think that then you've got another thing coming;

: : : : Or should it be

: : : : If you think that then you've got another think coming?

: : : It is definitely "another think".

: : No evidence, just another opinion: I believe the original phrase was: "If you think XX, you've got another THING coming." But somewhere along the line it mutated to "...you've got another THINK coming." I first heard "think" used by a Disney character.

: I know how you folks love documentation, but I don't have any. But this one is in very current usage so we should get by without doc.
: When someone says that they think this or that and you believe them to be wrong, you say "well, if you think that, then you've got another think comming." In my house we spoke better Enlish than that. When someone said, I think this or I thought that, we would say, you've got another thought coming.

: ES

I've just, while Googling both phrases (results are oddly 6,640 for "got another thing coming" and 1,830 for "got another think coming"), discovered the following in our own archives, courtesy of the learned Masakim. I hereby paste it in its entirety.

*** snip ***

"You have another think coming"
"If you think that, you have another think coming" means "You are mistaken and will soon have to alter your opinion". This is now sometimes heard with "thing" in place of "think", but "think" is the older version. Eric Partridge, in Dictionary of Catch Phrases: American and British, from the Sixteenth Century to the Present Day, gives the phrase as "you have another guess coming", "US: since the 1920s, if not a decade or two earlier". Clearly "think" is closer to "guess" than "thing" is. The OED gives a citation with "think" from 1937, and no evidence for "thing". Merriam-Webster Editorial Department writes: "When an informal poll was conducted here at Merriam-Webster, about 60% of our editors favored 'thing' over 'think,' a result that runs counter to our written evidence."
From The alt.usage.english FAQ File

*** end snip ***

A couple of websites I visited claim that this phrase is changing from its original deliberately and humorously ungrammatical form to a grammatically correct form that misses the point - because people are overly keen to avoid errors. However, most authorities, such as they are, seem to go with "another think". I'd suspect that the phrase originally had slight sarcastic overtones implying stupidity, similar perhaps to another deliberately ungrammatical usage, as follows:-

"Elizabeth Taylor's got married again - well gee, who'da thunk it?"

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