Because Arguing on Fanficrants Is a Waste of Time - a Poll

[lil_shepherd]

Over on fanficrants an argument is raging over the use of the phrase, "another think coming," as in "If he thought that, he had another think coming." Apparently, a large number of people have always believed and used "another thing coming" even if the first part of the phrase is retained.

So, a poll:

Poll Think or thing

Comments

[secritcrush]

or at least so goes the Judas Priest song - I don't think I've heard anyone actually say it.

[lil_shepherd]

Is that in the printed lyrics? Because the whole problem stems from an original mishearing.

[secritcrush]

Yes, that's what it saus on their official website.

[lil_shepherd]

As you can see from the poll, there are a lot of people on my flist who also think that 'thing' is correct. It is a very old alternative.

[fatpie42]

Eh? Why would anyone say "think" there?

How can you possibly have another think coming, might I axe? :P

I hardly think it originates in the states. It seems pretty English doesn't it? I can easily imagine teachers saying "if you do that boy, you've got another thing coming". The "thing" being a punishment of some sort. The "think"? I'm not sure what that could be...

[lil_shepherd]

He has a thought, but when circumstances change, so will the thought. That's the origin, and the 'think' version is recorded as older, as even those arguing for 'thing' admit.

You can also, colloquially, "Sit and have a think." (Yes, it's in the dictionary.) Then there is, "Sometimes I sits and thinks and sometimes I just sits."

[fatpie42]

I've looked at their explanation now, but the version they think is correct has absolutely horrendous grammar. You cannot have another "think" coming, because "think" is a verb not a noun.

You could have another "thought" coming, but that's not what they are suggesting....

Bizarre.

"Having a think" is spending some time thinking, so it's still using "think" as a verb. "Having a think coming" sounds weird because it's two verbs together. (I mean sure you can have two verbs together. "I'm going jumping." I just don't think it works in the example in the OP.)

[lil_shepherd]

This sort of thing is perfectly deliberate. It is a kind of wit.

[tamaranth]

in the 'don't get me started': free reign. Because reins are a dead metaphor.

[sidhe_woman]

God, that reign/rein makes me so cross. I had an editor try to correct my phrase 'he reined in his temper' to 'reigned in'. I explained to her that reign is what monarch do and reins are controlling/steering tools used by a horse-rider, and hence, by a lateral step, by someone controlling their temper. That was one editorial requirement I refused to accept.

[lil_shepherd]

Indeed.

Mind you, this pronunciation thing can get you. It was many years before I realised it was "tenterhooks" because where I lived, if anyone used the phrase, they said, "tenderhooks."

[blamebrampton]

And omnipotent monarchs are so 2010? A junior subeditor at my work called me in to side with her on that one this year against someone who should have known better. Young lass and I are both horsey and both ended up standing there with our elbows tucked against our sides guiding imaginary mounts over jumps insisting, 'Rein! REIN!!'

[shiv5468]

HAs to be think. And surely it's English. I'm in my country estates and can't dig out my dictionary of slang.

[lil_shepherd]

I'll pop downstairs and have a look in Partridge.

[lil_shepherd]

Can't find it for the moment in Partridge, where 'think' as a noun is dated back to the 1640s.

The OED says, under 'Think'

→ noun
[in sing.] (informal) an act of thinking: I went for a walk to have a think.

have ( got ) another think coming (informal) used to express the speaker's disagreement with or unwillingness to do something suggested by someone else: if they think I'm going to do physical jerks, they've got another think coming.

[shiv5468]

Oed wins!

[fatpie42]

I really don't get why there are people asking "what's the thing?"

It's like they've never heard of the phrase "and another thing..."

[lil_shepherd]

Because in the phrase "another thing" a separate thing has already been mentioned. In the phrase "If he thought that, he has another thing coming," (which is also ungrammatical) the two phrases are totally unconnected. There is no first thing.

[fatpie42]

In the phrase "If he thought that, he has another thing coming," (which is also ungrammatical) the two phrases are totally unconnected. There is no first thing.

My dad, who is an English teacher, has told me I'm wrong now. (He didn't recognise it straight away mind you.) But there's nothing ungrammatical about "has another thing coming" because the start of the phrase doesn't have to be "if you thought that". I was of the impression that it could be "if you do that" or "if you say that", not simply "if you think that". Of course, turns of phrase don't always fit normal grammar rules, so it's not entirely surprising. But there's nothing grammatically wrong with "another thing coming".

[fatpie42]

Another daft phrase, of course, is "you'll be laughing on the other side of your face". What the heck does it mean? But it's a genuine phrase nonetheless....