And if you think that, you've got another...

[tahnan]

Blessings upon Tish and Carolyn, who arrived on our doorstep last night bearing Indian food, so that Michelle and I need neither cook nor utterly despair. It was a nice break from the CD-packing tedium.

I alos provided a source of inadvertant amusement when I said, "And if you think that, you've got another think coming." They alternated staring at me and laughing, while I said, "What? Another think! Like, thought, only...it can't be another thing; that doesn't make sense! What does that even mean?" My wife, bless her soul, tried to explain to me that the other thing that's coming to you is a punch in the face.

Ladies and gentlemen, the alt.usage.english FAQ:

"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."

.See also this page and this page.

Tish, Carolyn, and dearest Michelle: enjoy your other think.

Comments

[jangler-npl.livejournal.com]

You take your Merriam-Webster and OED. I have Judas Priest on my side.

[tahnan.livejournal.com]

I await the day that a flat in the Enigma is tagged "(ONE = NI3; TWO = Judas Priest)".

[thedan.livejournal.com]

I had this discussion with my dad about a year ago, and I used Jangler's argument. I rank Guitar Hero citations above anything I find in a reference book. (Other little-known grammatical fact: "girl" can be substituted for "girl's" if it is succeeded by "crazy 'bout a sharp dressed man.")

[thedan.livejournal.com]

And I'd said "thing" before I ever heard the Judas Priest song, incidentally.

[chaunceyjenken.livejournal.com]

("If hit by a pitch, you may take your base; but first you are out and the other team gets two runs" would lead to a less-interesting version of baseball.

[lunacow]

It had never even occurred to me that "another think coming" was obscure or disputed.

[42itous.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm not sure I've ever heard the phrase with "thing." Maybe it's a regional variation?

In fact, using "thing" instead of "think" in that context gets to me the way "could care less" and "sherbert" do. Ugh.

[lunchboy.livejournal.com]

"Could care less" makes me crazy too. I grew up with everyone around me saying "sherbert" so I'm not sure I could say it another way if I tried -- but thank god we all call it "sorbet" now so I don't have to worry about it.

[42itous.livejournal.com]

But! Sorbet is fruit ices; sherbet is fruit ices with some cream whipped in. Sherbert, as Mozilla's spellchecker confirms, does not exist.

[tahnan.livejournal.com]

Per MW, however, "sherbert" is a variant spelling (and pronunciation) of "sherbet". It's listed with an "also", not an "or", which means it "occurs appreciably less often and thus is considered a secondary variant".

[42itous.livejournal.com]

*grumble grumble* It's a perversion!

[in-parentheses.livejournal.com]

It's totally "think." I'm with you.

Also, would you like some packing company tomorrow? I'm free all day.

[tahnan.livejournal.com]

By all means. I'm sleeping latish these days, but give me a call or watch for me on IM.

[aatish2.livejournal.com]

Faugh! So what you're saying is that it's ancient and outmoded. Deliberately ungrammatical does not a joke make, say I. Think is not closer to "guess" than "thing" is - for one, "guess" and "thing" are nouns and "think" is a verb. I mean, try walking up to someone, putting your hands over their eyes and yelling "Think Who!!" and see how that goes for you.

*grumbles at thinks which really shouldn't be right*

[lunchboy.livejournal.com]

If you stop using every figure of speech in English that doesn't actually make sense when you break it down to its consituent parts, you're going to find yourself short quite a few idioms.

They Might Be Giants clearly need to record a song called "You've Got Another Think Coming" to combat Judas Priest's insidious influence on our language.

[temvald.livejournal.com]

for one, "guess" and "thing" are nouns and "think" is a verb

"Think" is used as a noun here:

Well I was walking down the street just having a think
When a snake of a guy gave me an evil wink...

[mattbeo.livejournal.com]

And let's not forget Dr. Seuss.

[aatish2.livejournal.com]

It was luverly to see the two you though. Also, I shall sally forth again on some evening next week to yell "Schnell! Schnell!" at you in a jovial and motivational way while you pack.

[kirbyk.livejournal.com]

Huh, it never occurred to me that it was thing. I've always thought it was think. Thing makes no sense. And now I've got an MIT-educated linguist on my side!

[temvald.livejournal.com]

Results 1 - 10 of about 49,400 for "another think coming".
Results 1 - 10 of about 136,000 for "another thing coming".

And I think that half of the hits for "another think coming" are people explaining how that phrase is correct rather than "another thing coming".

So in other words, as aatish2 said above, "another think coming" is the old usage, and "another thing coming" is the modern version. And you should listen to your wife--the "other thing" is most likely something like a punch in the face.

[tahnan.livejournal.com]

Results 1 - 100 of about 96,300 for "another thing coming" -"judas priest".

That cuts it down to slightly less than 2:1. I don't deny that "another thing coming" is a modern form of an older phrase, just the way that "could care less" is; but "another think coming" is perfectly valid.

[mizkit.livejournal.com]

*peers* Tish and Carolyn are obviously very strange people. Who hasn't heard "You've got another think coming," for pity's sake?

[mrmorse.livejournal.com]

I always thought it was "thing". I blame Judas Priest. Anyway, I guessing that when spoken, the original phrase comes out sounding more like "thin kcoming" than "think coming". People hear that as "thing coming", which becomes the standard spelling, for all intensive purposes.

[qaqaq.livejournal.com]

One more vote for "never heard 'thing', and who hasn't heard 'think'?".

[devjoe.livejournal.com]

I first learned this phrase as "thing" but sometime in my high school or early college years realized it was supposed to be "think." It's possible that I got the "thing" version from the Judas Priest song, but I don't think so. This does remind me of another song though in this case the inversion is intentional.

The argument continues

[nickzamonis.blogspot.com (from livejournal.com)]

My wife and I just this morning had this same argument. I said it was Think and she said it was Thing, and I know that think makes more sense. There are lots of phrases and words that have been altered, usually by the uneducated popular or famous. That's not to say just because you are educated that you know more or better, but the fact that Judas Priest messed it up and now people are using him as the source for being right further reiterates my point.