I lived right there in Juneau. I lived in a slumhouse right next to the Governor’s Mansion (Juneau has a severe apartment shortage). It was the “penthouse” of the slum, but the place was still a pit. The area is indeed beautiful and I loved getting off work at 5, going home, eating dinner, watching David Letterman (the cable feed came from Denver, Letterman was on at 8:30), and then going out for a short hike before bed. 22 hours of light (more or less). Winter is a bit claustrophobic–water on one side, mountains on all others, and a grey sky that hangs about two feet over your head. I still miss watching the eagles.
But if you think I’d go back there to live, well, you’ve got another <insert personal favorite here> coming!
I never lived in Juneau, but worked there often. I loved how it was nestled all in there between the mountains and the sea. But flyng in or out was harrowing experience
And yeah, Alaska’s beautiful, but if anyone thinks I’d live there again…they’ve,well you know… (although, you’re not supposed to ever say never).
I think Roland Orzabal has summed things up pretty well too. However, I wonder why you say that “another thing” has been proven to be incorrect. It’s been proven not to be the original form of the expression, but that doesn’t make it incorrect. If it expresses the intended meaning without mangling the definitions of any of the words involved, how is it wrong? If what I mean on the rare occasions when I use the expression “another thing coming” isn’t the same as what people mean when they say “another think coming”, surely it would be incorrect for me to use the latter expression!
I can’t imagine wanting to say “another think coming” in any situation because I feel that meaning would be best conveyed by the better-sounding expression “think again”, but that’s a personal stylistic decision.
Couple more data points: My mom, who was born and raised in California, claims only to have ever heard thing. My dad, from New York, is adamant that it’s think. I must have learned it from my dad (or from the obscene amounts of reading I did as a young child – I challenge y’all to show me one novel in which thing is used).
Googling both terms suggests “another thing coming” is far more common. It is not gramatically incorrect, by the way, which the allegedly “correct” phrase is not. There’s a difference between mute/moot and thing/think here, because one is simply a misspelling/misunderstanding, and the result is a meaningless expression – while “another thing coming” may have originated as mishearing another, less likely phrase, it makes perfect sense on its own and is not gramatically incorrect.
I’ve got to say it one more time: the point of “another think coming” is that it is grammatically incorrect, hence the wordplay. Yes, it is not the type of wordplay that is popular today, but when the term was originated, this lapse in grammar would have been noticable and would have conveyed a sense of jocularity.
“Thing coming” signifies not only a mishearing of the phrase “anther think” but also incomprehension of the meaning and intent of the original statement. The two cannot be used interchangeably, they clearly do not mean the same thing.
Therefore, if I want to convey a joking suggestion that something won’t happen, I would say, “if you think so, you got another think coming.” If I want to convey a vague threat of unpleasantness or worse, I would say, “if you think so, you’ve got another thing coming.”
I understand that different people may have heard different versions of the “think/thing” phrase growing up. What I can’t understand is, people who thought is was “thing” finally hearing the explanation for why it is “think” and not being excited that they finally get it!
It’s like the folks who finally learn that “I could care less” has the exact opposite meaning from what they are trying to say… AND THEN CONTINUE TO SAY IT WRONG ANYWAY AND DEFEND THE INCORRECT USAGE!!!
Two wrongs don’t make a right. Three wrongs don’t make a right, even FOUR wrongs still don’t make a right. Certainly, 25,000 wrongs don’t = right either.
Why? Both expressions are clearly broadly in use. Even the Great Master isn’t going to change that.
Plus, they have clearly diverged slightly, not in meaning, but in connotation. Another thing coming has a slight connotation of threat, or at least warning. Another think coming simply connotes that the recipient of the expression needs to reconsider. The meaning, on the other hand, is identical for both - hence, if think is misheard as thing, the point is still well understood.
Because there’s nothing to get. People have not been saying “think” to me all my life, they have been saying “thing”. I did not mistakenly believe they were saying “thing”, that’s what they were really saying. I have always understood what they meant, and what they meant wasn’t merely “you are mistaken and should reconsider this matter”. They meant “your expectations are wrong, and you’re in for a disappointing and possibly unpleasant surprise”. (See also wolfman’s post above.) Why should it excite me that there’s a different version of the same expression that uses a different word to make a weak joke and carries a different connotation? This knowledge is perhaps mildly interesting, but it thrills me rather less than, say, figuring out that a “cheese salad” sandwich in the UK is a sandwich with cheese and lettuce. It apparently does not excite you to hear the explanation for why it is “thing” (for some people, at least), so why should those in the “thing” camp be excited to hear the history of your preferred version?
*Uh, the reason why “I could care less” has the exact opposite meaning from what they are trying to say is that the expression is meant to be sarcastic. Many people obviously use it as a stock phrase without putting thought into it, but it must have originated as sarcasm. It’s very much a surly, disaffected teen thing to say. Which is as good a reason as any not to say it, and I always thought it sounded pretty dumb, but as sarcasm there’s nothing really wrong with it.
But this is NOT such a case! However it evolved as it’s own saying, it CURRENTLY has a logical meaning. Unlike “could care less”.
Again, as several of us have described. We have heard the phrase where "thing replaces think, in a logical and grammatical way. Where thing = consequences for what you might THINK was going to happen.
While “could care less” is meaningless (unless one wants to convey that one cares some, or a LOT), “another thing coming” is NOT meaningless. It has logical meaning.
And as a “think” side person said themselves, (paraphrased) the so-called humor and wordplay of the original think/think phrase, is NOT funny, nor on a par with today’s word humor.
It was never intended as brilliant repartee, but it is certainly as clever as “induhvidual.” It is one thing to not find “think” particularly funny. It is silly to attempt to set up some sort of inter-generational ranking of the quality of humor.
Searching for the phrase “another thing coming” at Amazon.com brings up 121 results. Some of these results are novels which appear via the “Search Inside the Book” feature. One example is Babyville, by Jane Green.
“Could care less” makes sense, though I prefer “couldn’t care less”. “I could care less” says that you could care less about about something, but it would take some effort to imagine something that you would care less about. It’s like seeing a very short person and saying “well, you’re not the shortest person in the world”. The unspoken finish to the line is, “but your fucking close”. Likewise, “I could care less”, unspoken, “but it’d be a real stretch”.
I’d also like to point out that while “another thing coming” could possibly be a real or implied threat, it is not necessarily so. It could also be a warning of disappointment, or even a blessing in disguise.
“If you think you’re going to win the lottery,” etc.
“If you think I’m not going to screw your brains out tonight,” etc.
In the latter example, the “another thing” is clearly something rather pleasant. Provided, of course, that you want the speaker to screw your brains out. If not, then we’re back to threat.
In other news, I have a question about “Moot point.” Moot, in this case, means meaningless or irrelevant. However, for centuries before it aquired this meaning, it was a noun which meant a meeting in which villagers decided on various courses of action for the community. A town hall meeting today could be considered a moot. Hall moot, shire moot, hundred moot, Ent moot.
Do these words have the same root? When and why did the meaning change?
Lastly, if a point is made at a meeting in a community of the deaf, and it is an irrelevant point about a cow, what do you call it?
Hah! If you think Cecil is going to waste his valuable time and considerable brainpower on such a silly little issue as this, then you’ve got another thi…
