Has DH got another think coming or have I got another thing coming???

It is not "possible that both are right." As evidenced on here, 'thing' is based on mishearing the correct term of 'think.'

We're going round in circles here.

The "I think" at the start of my post means "in my opinion".

Interesting discussion here which traces "thing" back even earlier:
jeremybutterfield.wordpress.com/2015/06/30/3035/

You forgot 'in my opinion'.

Well I think it's more efficient and easy to use because THING MAKES MORE SENSE! (and is easier to say)

However I can there are polarised views on this and that's why I said earlier that it's also possible that both are right.

w-r-o-n-g

Exactly, MaidofStars! Part of my degree was about historical linguistics. Lots of changes to language do indeed involve simplification, getting rid of confusing or unnecessarily complex things. There is nothing useful about getting one word of an idiomatic phrase wrong. That isn't progress. It's a lack of understanding about what the phrase actually means!

t-h-i-n-g

Yep, you can say "It's 'thing' in our house" until you're blue in the face. That doesn't make it correct. Look it up (in a proper dictionary, not Google)!

From my Oxford Concise Dictionary:

PHRASES: 'have (got) another think coming' (informal) - used to express disagreement

I found an online reference to an addition to the full O.E.D. which mentioned 'have another thing coming, and said it had become quite commonly used and was based on a mishearing of the correct phrase. It's still wrong though.

That progress is evolution, it progresses towards more efficiency
If you can tell me how a change from "think" to "thing" creates a more efficient use of language, knock yourself out....

Cats get spayed

Cats = C = noun
Spayed = S = verb

Practice/licence = noun
Practise/license = verb

I'm sure there are more obvious tricks to remembering it, involving other permutations of C nouns and S verbs, but that one's stuck with me.

I don't think moving forward in time always means our habits and practices improve. I think language can evolve in terms of new words/phrases coming into use, or definitions being further clarified.

But when phrases and words change because they have simply been misheard/misunderstood and then repeated over and over again, I see that as degeneration of language, something undesirable... moving away from clarity instead of towards it.

However, I don't think about any of it quite as seriously as perhaps my post sounds, and I frequently make my own mistakes (see recent "think" conversion).

But it's not a lost battle, in the sense that every word you're using now has been arrived at through that progress. That progress is evolution, it progresses towards more efficiency

Anyone who thinks "all language should stay as it was, because that is right so you think we should all be just saying "ug"?

Wow, I've been a "thing-er" my whole life and never knew it was wrong!

In my head it always made sense in a kind of - whatever thing/situation you anticipate happening is wrong because another (ie. different) thing is coming (going to happen).

"Another thing" as in a different thing (to what you expect/have planned), not an additional thing.

However, I am now a convert to the "think" side. I agree that language changes due to misuse, but I see that as a lost battle, not progress.

It's "thing" for sure at least in my family and where I come from that's how it said ! or you might be getting mixed up with "if that's what you think you can think again"

Only a div says 'Think' - OF COURSE IT'S NOT THINK. Thing thing thingy thing thing.

THING.

It's not thing. Thing makes no sense.
The correct form is " If that's what you think, you've got another think coming."

(Realise I'm late to the pedant party on this)

As an aside, I'm really enjoying this thread. I hope I'm not getting on anyone's nerves or that anyone thinks I'm harping on. I think there's some extremely interesting questions about the use of the English language to be asked here. so there.

Often 'what's going to happen' isn't actually a "thing" anyway.

Can you clarify that, please, because I think this is where the two sides of the argument are getting snagged.

How can 'what's going to happen' ever not be a thing? A thing is just.. Well, one of the definitions is an abstract object, event or concept. And that applies to... Well, pretty much everything that there could ever possibly be.

I'm struggling - really! - to picture what you could possibly mean when you talk about something that isn't a thing. Because... What on earth could it possibly be?

If someone can explain to me why a belief that an event which may or may not happen can't be described as a thing I'd love to hear it. Or if you have an example, please share.

Let's take the example above of the forgotten tenner and the possible event of its being forgotten. Do you agree that's a thing?

(And while 'think' is used as a noun, it's almost always used to refer to the more general act of thinking, rather than a specific individual thought. But that's by the by to my main point.)

Notime - "think" is an archaic noun, it's an old phrase. And it's still used in the phrase 'I'll have a think about that'. I don't think it means a single "thought" but rather a 'period of thinking'.

i.e. 'if you think i'm coming to that party, you've another think coming' means 'if you think i'm coming to that party, you've some more thinking to do'.

Think can be a noun too though.

Surely 'You've another think coming' is grammatically incorrect? Wouldn't it be 'You've got another thought coming?'

How about 'if you think this thing is going to happen, then you've got another thing coming.'? Does that make sense?

It's a good attempt at rationalisation, and lots of people on this thread have tried it. But it's a bit of a grammatical stretch. Often 'what's going to happen' isn't actually a "thing" anyway.

'If you think x is going to happen, you can think again'
'If you think x is going to happen, you've another think coming'

These are the only correct formulations. "Think" has a long history of being both a verb and a noun: 'I'll think about that / I'll have a think about that'.

Definitely think, not thing. Think makes much more sense!

Worserest is as worsely as it gets.

It's think. 'Thing' Doesn't even make sense!Unless you'd say 'If you THING that, you've another thing coming'. Which again, makes no sense!

How about 'if you think this thing is going to happen, then you've got another thing coming.'? Does that make sense?