Another think coming - the plot thickens (thiggens?)
Posted by Bookworm on October 11, 2002
In Reply to: Another think coming - the plot thickens (thiggens?) posted by Word Camel 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?"
: : Yes, I agree - it is deliberately ungrammatical. Apropos of nothing in particular, a colleague of mine always signs himself 'evil ditto lad' when agreeing with something - it's an anagram of his name.
: : I've only ever heard this as 'think' and, until now, wasn't aware there was any debate about it. No evidence on offer from here, but doesn't the think version have the advantage that it makes sense whereas the thing version doesn't? What would the thing be but another thought anyway?
: I don't see that "thing" doesn't make sense. After all, the thing could be an event or a rude awakening and needn't be simply another though. I actually had never come across the "think" version until this discussion, but then it's not something I recall seeing in print. Especially in the United States where consonants tend to be softer than the UK, I think one might be hard pressed to tell the difference between the two versions just by listening.
For what it's worth, this is from The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn:
Rot him, I forgot he was a preacher. I see I was up a stump again, so I played another chicken bone and got another think.
- Another think coming R. Berg 10/11/02
- Another thing
coming to you ESC 10/11/02
- Another thing coming to you Bruce
Kahl 10/11/02
- Googlization? TheFallen 10/12/02
- Googlization? Hmm, I've never heard of think coming I was always new it to be thing coming If I was to see it on paper I would have automatically thought it was a typo. 10/12/02
- Googlization? R. Berg 10/12/02
- Googlization? Bruce Kahl
10/12/02
- Googlization? TheFallen 10/12/02
- Googlization? Bruce Kahl
10/12/02
- Another think R. Berg 10/11/02
- get what's coming to them? Rube 10/11/02
- Best foot forward
R. Berg 10/11/02
- Let's get ready to rumble! TheFallen
10/12/02
- Rumble R. Berg 10/12/02
- 3 or more? Rube 10/15/02
- Comparatives and superlatives R. Berg 10/16/02
- 3 or more? Rube 10/15/02
- Rumble R. Berg 10/12/02
- Let's get ready to rumble! TheFallen
10/12/02
- Best foot forward
R. Berg 10/11/02
- get what's coming to them? Rube 10/11/02
- Googlization? TheFallen 10/12/02
- Another thing coming to you Bruce
Kahl 10/11/02
- Another thing
coming to you ESC 10/11/02