# You have got another "thing" or "think" coming? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 14, 2012, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-have-got-another-thing-or-think-coming/640931 "2012-11-14T00:26:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-have-got-another-thing-or-think-coming/640931/101 "2012-11-14T16:38:51Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > Yes it does, but when prefaced with “If you think X”, which is the phrase we’re talking about, then it comes across as a non-sequitur. It’s a set-up/punchline turn of phrase that suddenly derails and skids to a halt without delivering. It’s unsatisfying. It’s catchphrasus interruptus. It is the Diet Coke of idiom. I know, I am a loyal think-ite. I just don’t think the argument I referred to helps our cause. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-have-got-another-thing-or-think-coming/640931/102 "2012-11-14T16:42:48Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > It’s catchphrasus interruptus. Are you kidding? “Think coming” has a necessary glotal stop. You can practically hear the needle scratching across the record in the space between those words. ---
**Author:** ![Lukeinva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lukeinva/32/17872_2.png) [@Lukeinva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lukeinva)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-have-got-another-thing-or-think-coming/640931/103 "2012-11-14T16:46:20Z")
Now I think that it is ‘think.’ Literally I had another think coming. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-have-got-another-thing-or-think-coming/640931/104 "2012-11-14T16:58:17Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Are you kidding? “Think coming” has a necessary glotal stop. You can practically hear the needle scratching across the record in the space between those words. Well, that is the nub of the problem. That is why people get confused. “Thing” _sounds_ better, so people think it must be right, but in fact it makes no sense, whereas “think”, which _sounds_ awkward (because of the two adjacent **k** sounds), makes good sense. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-have-got-another-thing-or-think-coming/640931/105 "2012-11-14T17:05:14Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > Well, that is the nub of the problem. That is why people get confused. “Thing” _sounds_ better, so people think it must be right, but in fact it makes no sense, whereas “think”, which _sounds_ awkward (because of the two adjacent **k** sounds), makes good sense. People think it “sounds better” because they’ve always heard it that way. And it makes more sense. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-have-got-another-thing-or-think-coming/640931/106 "2012-11-14T17:08:01Z")
This should have been a poll. I’m too lazy to count. I have other thinks to do. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-have-got-another-thing-or-think-coming/640931/107 "2012-11-14T17:11:56Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > This should have been a poll. I’m too lazy to count. I have other thinks to do. Oh, you thing so, huh? ---
**Author:** ![leahcim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-have-got-another-thing-or-think-coming/640931/108 "2012-11-14T17:26:31Z")
I am another vote for “think”. But for all intensive purposes, I could care less. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-have-got-another-thing-or-think-coming/640931/109 "2012-11-14T17:28:12Z")
Here’s a [lengthy thread](http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=87385) on another forum, which further illustrates that people will fight passionately to defend whichever version they grew up hearing (or thinking they were hearing). It is summarised nicely in [this post](http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=87385&page=15&p=12439332#post12439332) (six and a half years after the thread started!) ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-have-got-another-thing-or-think-coming/640931/110 "2012-11-14T17:30:49Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > It is summarised nicely in [this post](http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=87385&page=15&p=12439332#post12439332) (six and a half years after the thread started!) Yep, that pretty much says it all. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-have-got-another-thing-or-think-coming/640931/111 "2012-11-14T17:41:40Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > People think it “sounds better” because they’ve always heard it that way. And it makes more sense. It makes no sense, and if people have “always” heard “thing” they have not been listening, because it is quite certain that many people think it is “think”, and say “think”. It sounds better because it does not have the repeated **k** sound. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-have-got-another-thing-or-think-coming/640931/112 "2012-11-14T17:55:38Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > It makes no sense, and if people have “always” heard “thing” they have not been listening, because it is quite certain that many people think it is “think”, and say “think”. It sounds better because it does not have the repeated **k** sound. From the summary post I linked to above: > [@](#): > > Most likely, they actually HAVE heard it said the wrong way, but they didn’t realize it because the RIGHT way and the WRONG way often sound almost exactly alike, so their mind fills in the way they expect to hear it. The sound of “think coming” is a double hard kay sound between the words, and unless a person specifically enunciates both kay sounds, the “kay” of “think” gets lost, making it sound like “thing”. Hence, a person saying “think coming” without overemphasizing the first kay will usually be heard by a thingist as “thing coming”, and conversely “thing coming” will be heard as “think coming” by a thinkist with the missing kay mentally filled in. They won’t even be aware of the difference. If I heard someone who says “another thing coming”, I would just understand it as “another think coming” because that’s the phrase I know and they sound nearly identical. Likewise, if I used “another think coming” then someone who grew up knowing the “thing” version would hear it as that one. (At least, we would before this debate!) It’s only when you see it written down that the “wrong” version looks jarring. (I must admit I was unaware of the Judas Priest song before the first of these discussions, but I’m quite surprised that a British band used the “thing” variant in the 1980s, as it seems to me that it is more of an American phenomenon, with “think” holding on in Britain.) ---
**Author:** ![a35362](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@a35362](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a35362)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-have-got-another-thing-or-think-coming/640931/113 "2012-11-14T18:03:43Z")
> [@Feyrat](#): > > Think. > > The whole quote is “If you think that, you have another think coming.”… Agreed. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-have-got-another-thing-or-think-coming/640931/114 "2012-11-14T18:15:19Z")
Previous SDMB threads on this thorny issue: [September 2000](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=38218) [June 2004](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=260966) ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-have-got-another-thing-or-think-coming/640931/115 "2012-11-14T19:05:16Z")
It’s think. The first time I heard someone use “thing” I snickered at their ignorance. A while ago (when we did this thread before) I was shocked that so many people thought it was ‘thing’ and I’ll grudgingly admit that it’s apparently entered into acceptable usage. But ‘think’ is the original idiom and more correct. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-have-got-another-thing-or-think-coming/640931/116 "2012-11-14T19:07:26Z")
> [@Skammer](#): > > But ‘think’ is the original idiom and more correct. By a few years. Very few. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-have-got-another-thing-or-think-coming/640931/117 "2012-11-14T19:11:49Z")
It’s thing. The first time I heard someone use “think” was in this very thread, and I snickered at their ignorance. 😉 Did you even read Colophon’s link in post 109; It’s both really. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-have-got-another-thing-or-think-coming/640931/118 "2012-11-14T19:17:15Z")
This thread reminds me of those who snicker at the ignorance of those who say duck tape. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-have-got-another-thing-or-think-coming/640931/119 "2012-11-14T19:20:11Z")
The link is a good summary. I think the “duality” argument strongly supports think as a more clever bit of wordplay (you think this, but you’re about to think something else…) as well as the usual lack of a ‘thing’ that precedes the ‘another thing.’ But go ahead and use ‘thing’ and I’ll go on hearing you say ‘think’ instead. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-have-got-another-thing-or-think-coming/640931/120 "2012-11-14T19:35:52Z")
> [@Skammer](#): > > I think the “duality” argument strongly supports think as a more clever bit of wordplay (you think this, but you’re about to think something else…) as well as the usual lack of a ‘thing’ that precedes the 'another thing. I never, ever considered the duality or wordplay. I mean, I can see it now, and it makes some sense, but I’ve never interpreted the saying in that manner. Sometimes the initial “think” is implied but not specifically used. “You were expecting warm temperatures today? Well, you’ve got another thing coming.” “You want pizza tonight? You’ve got another thing coming.” In these cases it’s not a question of having another “think” it’s a question of receiving a different result than expected. See? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-have-got-another-thing-or-think-coming/640931.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-have-got-another-thing-or-think-coming/640931.md?page=7)