Doohh… no no no! The phrase is a set-up and punchline gag. It says “if you think this, then you had better think again” … or, more snappily, and with fine disregard for grammar “if that’s what you think, you have another think coming”.
It seems like there’s a huge mental disconnect here. Can somebody please tell me that, even if they’ve always heard “thing”, they can at least see the logic in what I am trying to say? Saying “but think as a noun doesn’t make sense” says to me that you haven’t read what I’ve been writing at all. The whole ***point ** * of the phrase is the doubling of “think”, even if that use is falling by the wayside.
Although I was a child at the time, I can still distinctly remember the thrill of comprehension I felt when I first understood that the mysterious threat I’d misheard as “you’ve got another thing coming” was actually “you’ve got another think coming.” I felt like there was an audible click as both the sense and the humor of the saying suddenly fell into place. It baffles me that people who have made it to adulthood mishearing this expression (or accurately hearing people who were misspeaking it), do not leap for joy when they learn the correct (or original, if you insist) expression. That they instead staunchly defend the bastardized phrase as somehow more logical makes we want to weep. Or vomit. Or kick the cat. No, no. The cat has more sense.
There, how’s that for passion! Don’t even get me started on “mute point”!
(And I apologize in advance if my punctuation of that last exclamatory remark hurts anyone. I can never decide what I want to do with the quote marks and the final punctuation in a situation like that.)
Put me down as a “another think coming” person. I’ve never heard “another thing coming”. Born and raised in Michigan, so not everyone this side of the Pond thinks thing.
And I’m thinking that could be downright dangerous to use “another thing” in the pint example:
“If you think I’m buying you another pint, you’ve got another thing coming” could easily start a bar fight when you refuse to buy the pint that your buddy THOUGHT you’d said was coming! (“another thing” easily being interpreted by hopeful barfly as “another PINT”).
The good folks who compiled Merriam-Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged ((C) 1993) seem to think (er, ahem) it can be a noun (p. 2376):
Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate (the chief abridgment of MW3 and the dictionary most commonly used in book publishing) gives only definition 1 and adds that this usage originated around 1834.
From the alt.english.usage FAQ:
Sixty percent (even in an informal poll among editors) doth not a landslide make. Even though I am a strong adherent to “another think coming,” I must agree that BOTH are acceptable, and were I to come across “another thing coming” while copyediting, I would not change it. (But I would bristle internally.)
Those of you who are arguing that “think” cannot be used as a noun will kindly find another argument. For those of you who disdain the dictionary as evidence, I will point out that MW is quite descriptivist, which means that it presents the language as it is actually spoken and written by most English speakers. You may think “another think coming” sounds stupid, but it is perfectly legitimate. Adjust your ear and live with it.
And if you continue to object, call those of us who prefer it “brain-damaged,” etc., then I will thank you not to ever use any idiomatic or humorous expression that does not conform to the exact letter of the most formal, serious written English. Because anything else sounds stupid, right? :rolleyes:
From the Oxford English Dictionary (the complete, 20+ volume version):
There is no comparable entry in the OED for “another thing coming.” As you can see from the quotations, the phrase is a twentieth century construction.
On the whole descriptivist versus prescriptivist melee that seems to be breaking out in this thread, i subscribe neither to an anti-intellectual descriptivism that sees dictionaries simply as describers of how people speak, and nor do i have any time for an authoritarian prescriptivism that would prevent any growth or development of language.
The interesting thing is that the OP takes a rather prescriptivist position, yet one of the usages that he (she?) defends–“another think coming”–is a rather recent (and, in my opinion, quite awful) addition to the language. Personally, i don’t find the term “another think coming” either useful or amusing, so i just don’t use it.
Bollocks. You have often heard “another think coming”; you just didn’t know what other people were saying. It’s like misheard song lyrics – you can hear it over and over, and still get it wrong. Would the expression be more palatable if quotes were used? Like so: “you’ve got another ‘think’ coming”?
And the “thing” expression is no more correct for being common than “Louie Louie” really has obscene lyrics just because everyone thinks so. One may, if one wishes, allow that there two expressions, one derived from the other, with the newer expression characterized by its failure of logic, its popularity among the ignorant, and its vigorous defense by descripivists.
I hear ya. I see your logic, and I understand the humor. I still don’t give a flying fuck. “Another think coming” sits about as well with me as “The great symphonies of Neil Sedaka.” It’s just wrong. shudder
Of course, as a relatively new (20th C) phrase that bastardizes the word “think” and does nothing but substitute for more euphonious and grammatical terms, the phrase “another think coming” is, itself, a descriptivists dream.
Ditto. I get the “double think” humor, but it still sounds wrong.
And I still stand by my assertation that I’ve never heard anybody say it.
I never heard it before I read an argument about it (much like this one) in a thread on this very MB, so it was within the last two years.
Put me in the “another think” camp…thing makes no sense in the context of the phrase as a play on words (to me at least, though I understand it does to some people).
Whenever I hear the phrase “If you think _______, you’ve got another think coming!”, I hear it in Bill Cosby’s voice, ala the bit in his Fatherhood stand-up act.
If Bill Cosby uses think, it’s good enough for me!
Apologies if the brain damage comment caused offense. I was just trying to humorously indicate that both sides are saying the other expression “makes no sense whatsoever”.
While I’m sure the noun usage is perfectly valid, if you try to say “Let’s exchange thinks.” as Webster suggests, expect some blank looks from your audience.
Oh, and I always thought Bill Cosby just misspoke that line! :smack:
**Nametag ** … what’s “correct” got to do with it? As far as language goes, what’s common and understood is fully legitimate on that basis alone.
The analogy with “Louie Louie”. The lyrics to “Louie Louie” can be and have cofidied. This never truly happens with a language at large – there is no one arbiter of correctness. Language happens on a constantly ad hoc basis between flesh-and-blood speakers, and this creates all kinds of shifts over time (though mass media tends to slow some effects down). Language does not happen in the OED, or in Strunk & White.
Everyone (more or less) tacitly agreeing that a given element of language is correct is exactly how language changes naturally. The English you speak and write every day is formed of nothing more than the cumulative errors of speakers gone by … all the way back to the first caveman who could grunt.
I understand it perfectly well. However, if you think this is enough to convince me that it’s the only acceptable form of the expression then you’ve got another…er…well, you know.
It doesn’t bother me a bit if other people want to say “another think coming”, but “another thing” seems too widespread to be considered a mispronounciation rather than an alternate version of the expression. “Another thing” seems as logical as “another think” to me, even if it alters the meaning of the expression. But reflecting on times when I’ve used the phrase myself, “If that’s what you think, you’re in for a surprise” is closer to my intended meaning than “If that’s what you think, you should consider the matter again” anyway.
This horrifies me. What are these people doing editing a dictionary if they’re that retarded?
Frankly, I tend to subtract an IQ point or two from my impression of a person when they say “another thing coming.” I consider it on a par with “mute point” or “nucular.”
