Hello,
I would like to know what Dopers think about that expression. I just saw it on another forum and really makes me wonder. Is this expression “you have got another think coming” or “you have got another thing coming”? To my non-native ears, “think coming” sounds a little archaic.
I think I’ll move this to IMHO. It’s a better place for this topic than Great Debates.
It’s “another thing coming.”
Think.
The whole quote is “If you think that, you have another think coming.”
Thing doesn’t even make sense.
Well, that’s kinda the nature of idioms, doncha know. . . .
Thing.
I think it’s think.
I rarely see people use either, but I’ve never seen anyone use “think” outside these sorts of discussions.
It may have been and probably was originally think, but all anyone uses these days is thing.
Think makes sense to me, but…
OTOH, “If you think that” you’re going to get something different because it’s not going to happen…you’ve got another thing coming.
You don’t typically say it to someone that’s going to change their mind, you say it to someone that’s not going to change their mind, but is in for a rude awakening when they get something that’s not what they expected.
According to the OED it is both, with “think” predating “thing”. It says “thing” arises from a a misapprehension of “think”. According to Judas Priest it is “thing”. “Thing” sounds better to me, but I’ve always preferred campy rockers to English professors.
Think. “Thing” makes no sense at all.
“Thing” makes total sense to me, so it’s the one I use. You expect one thing, and get another [thing].
Thing, and it makes perfect sense. The usage is short for saying something like, “You thought you were going to get that? Well, guess what? You’ve got another thing coming.”
It’s “think” that doesn’t make sense. ‘Think’ is a verb, not a noun. You can’t have another ‘think’ coming, because there’s no such thing as a ‘think’ in the first place.
Another vote for thing.
If that’s what you thought, think again. Hence, “think” it is. And I always laughed at Priest for getting it wrong. They should’ve had another think coming.
I say think even though I know that’s wrong. I like it better.
Weird thing about the OED citation - even given the “misapprehension,” their earliest quotation for “thing coming” dates from 1919, while the earliest quotation for “think coming” is from 1926 (and that particular quote is not even in the entry for “think”).
It is strange. However I have seen a citation for “think” dating from 1909. I’ll try and dig it up. Posting from phone now and hard to research.