Re: Another
think
Posted by R. Berg on October 11, 2002 In Reply to: Re: Another thing coming to you
posted by Bruce Kahl 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."
: : If you think that then you've
got another thing coming to you.
: : My case for "thing" is that we talk about
someone "getting what's coming to him." The "what" coming to you would be a "thing"
not a "think." My vote is that it started out "thing" and changed to "think" as
a play on words.
: I agree with ESC that "think" mutated from "thing".
:
I googled the phrase:
: 970 hits with "thing"
: 170 hits with "think"
:
700 hits with "thing" without the Judas Priest song with the same title.
I'm
sticking to my belief that "think" came first and "thing" grew popular among people
who heard the succession of two K sounds as a single K sound. Majority rule doesn't
suit every case.
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