“Think” can be used as a noun, as in, “He sat down for a good long think.”
However, another “thing” coming is how I’ve always used it. Were it not for the SDMB, I would never have thought of “think” in that usage.
I’ve always used “thing” in this context. “Think” doesn’t make sense to me at all.
Really. It sounds like something Archie Bunker might say.
To be clear, I’m not questioning the OED, I just found it strange. I think the misapprehension as stated makes sense, but it’s curious the OED’s own quotations don’t make the case for it - I wonder if they know it’s such a bone of contention.
It’s “think” in my world. The phrase was never used in relation to “expecting one item and getting another”. In my family it was always used “if you think that, then you have another think coming”.
My dead relatives are my cite.
“Think” Never heard “thing” used in this context.
Thing.
I’ve never heard “think”.
Never question Judas Priest.
Think.
Clarification for anyone paying attention: at the link, the author states “The OED gives a citation with ‘think’ from 1937, and no evidence for ‘thing’.” The OED quotations Speak to me Maddie! and I were discussing are more recent; the reference to “thing coming” as a misapprehension of “think coming” is listed as a “Draft partial entry June 2004” under thing, n.[sup]1[/sup](with the relevant 1919 quotation). There is indeed a quotation from 1937 for “think coming” listed under think, n, but there is an earlier quotation from 1926 under skin, n. (“If you think … that it’s any skin off my nose to lose the pleasures of your company … you got another think coming.”)
Exactly.
Never heard of that. It’s always “thing,” whether it makes sense or not.
The OED has several cites for “think” as a noun, dating back to the 1830s.
Exactly.
Well, I sure feel vindicated now. I thought “thing” was right because people make fun of me when I say “think”…but I guess those people have another think coming.
Think
Judas Priest also had an album called “Hell Bent for Leather”
Judas Priest is not a good source for correct usage of English idioms.
It’s “think.”
“Thing” belongs with “could of,” “can’t hardly,” and “could care less.”
Or “head over heels”, “just desserts”, “towing the line”, etc…
Me either. And if I did hear “think” I’d assume they were making a joke, deliberately saying the wrong word to sound like Archie Bunker or Mrs. Malaprop.
It’s “think”, or at least that’s how I’ve always heard it. The anachronistic sound is part of the charm.