Re: Another
think coming
Posted by R. Berg on October
11, 2002 In Reply to: Re: Another think coming
- the plot thickens (thiggens?) posted by Bookworm 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 XXXX, 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 A Dictionary
of Catch Phrases, 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.
We've had this discussion before. In my childhood home (U.S.; parents
from Midwest), people pronounced their consonants clearly enough that I am certain
it was "another think."
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