Re: Another
think coming - the plot thickens (thiggens?)
Posted by Granary Tim on October 12, 2002 In Reply to: Re:
Another think coming - the plot thickens (thiggens?) posted by TheFallen
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.
: : : Maybe this in in use in the US but no one I've ever heard
in the UK uses 'thing' in that phrase. In my view the thing version is just plain
wrong, and possibly the result of mishearing the phrase.
: : : I can't agree
that the thing version makes any kind of sense. "If you think that you've another
thing coming" isn't grammatical. To have another thing you need a previous thing.
: : : Mind you people are happy to put their best foot forward, which implies
they have three or more feet.
: : Okay - just toying with this a little...
:
: I'm not sure I see how it's ungramatical, illogical and twisted, maybe. I mean
when you consider that "think" is verb and not noun, well isn't quibbling about
"another thing" a bit like the pot calling the kettle black? Especially since
the "thing" could be a thought? Is there a lesser of two evils where grammar is
concerned?
: : I haven't got strong feelings either way, but I'm not sure I
can bring myself to use "think" since I will inevitably feel like I am doing bad
German accent. Not that anyone else sounds like this. I think it's probably just
my own phonetical bugaboo. (buggaboo?)
: (Bugaboo). I feel morally obliged to
point out that "think" is indeed also a perfectly valid noun in its own right
- "let me have a think about that". This from the American Heritage Dictionary:-
:
THINK
: NOUN: The act or an instance of deliberate or extended thinking; a
meditation.
: What's staggered me in all this is the almost 4 to 1 ratio of
the clearly incorrect "thing" version over the "think" version that Google turned
up. Have the do-gooders now turned from well-intentioned but utterly ridiculous
political correctness to a similar grammatical correctness? I think we should
have a junta.
Indeed. If people really have started using "thing" because "think"
isn't proper English then I depair. Death's too good for them, etc.
|