Admittedly, this is a very minor rant, but for everyone who reads this and learns from it; everyone who then uses this information in the future to their advantage, I feel validated.
The phrase is: “If that’s what they think, they have another think coming.”
That’s it.
No, really.
There are no mystical “things” involved here.
There are no “thing” faries waiting to give you yours when someone suddenly feels you deserve it.
People who are mistaken do not have one “thing” on them and another “thing” on the way.
Any sort of “thing” you might or might not have is unaffected by your intellectual prowess.
That coworker who expects you to do their work for them? There is no “thing” on it’s way to them.
That customer who expects you to read their mind? “Thing”-less.
That sister-in-law trying to turn your family against you through blatant lies?
Whether she has a “thing” or not, another one is not winging it’s way to her right now.
This has been a public service anouncement from InkBlot, and the grammer police.
‘Think’ is correct. It is idiomatic. ‘Thing’ makes no sense in the context. I’ve heard this phrase used with ‘think’ all my life, and only in the last decade have I ever heard it misspoken with ‘thing’. It is always preceded by “If so-and-so thinks such-and-such”, and the idea is that the person referred to will have to do some more thinking.
This whole debate intrigues me. For you see, I have always heard the word “thing” when hearing this phrase. Whether that is the fault of those I have heard say it the wrong way, or my own strange interpretation of the correct usage, I have no idea. Given the juxtaposition of the “g” in “thing” with the “c” in “coming”, the two phrases sound similar.
The phrase “he’s got another thing coming” made sense to me, since the person about which the comment is made expects one “thing” and will receive “another thing”, different from what he expected. Thus, it was a phrase used to illustrate an error in assumptions, and the knowledge that the person in error will find out just how wrong he is. Also, although I am aware that the word “think” can be used as a noun, it is a usage that is seldom found in modern speech (thus, Friedo’s incorrect assertion). Having only ever come into contact with this phrase in spoken form, I most likely chose to hear the more common “thing”, and rationalized the meaning of the phrase as stated above.
And I will continue to use this phrase this way, along with all the other mondegreens (or “disinterred metaphors”, if you will) with which I have become infected.
"If you think I’ll sit around as the world goes by
You’re thinkin’ like a fool ‘cause it’s a case of do or die.
Out there is a fortune waitin’ to be had
If you think I’ll let it go you’re mad
You’ve got another think comin’. "
Interesting. I’ve heard it both ways. I never cared enough to find out whether it was originally “think” (used humorously in place of “thought” or “thing”) or “thing” (which does make logical sense, and is grammatically correct).
If it’s not one Thing, it’s another.
