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Original poster

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

812 replies

NotMyRealName2015 · 01/11/2015 14:56

I’ll clarify Blush

DH and I were having a light hearted debate about who was going to sort the garden out this afternoon (there are weeds growing out of weeds, and we have guests coming this week)
DH said that if I thought he was doing it today ‘I had another thing coming’.

I pointed out the phrase was ‘another think coming’ and that he should now go and do the garden as punishment for his failure. Grin
However, he is insisting I am wrong and that ‘thing’ is the right word. I say that doesn’t even make sense! What ‘thing’ is coming?? He just says ‘English doesn’t always make sense.’ (Not technically his first language but he has a British parent so has always been bilingual and is completely fluent)

MN jury needed. Who is correct??
Loser will obviously be doing the garden. Winner will sit down with coffee and biscuits, looking smug and saying 'you've missed a bit.'

OP posts:
GreenPotato · 01/11/2015 22:14

You think one thing, but you have something else coming.

I think that explains why "thing" makes sense very well - there is "another" thing coming, because it's not the thing you thought would happen.

It could mean the threat of violence, but I don't think I ever saw it like that – it's just "you think thing x will happen, but you've got another thing coming" (i.e. something different will happen).

I'm actually a pedant normally and not at all someone who can't tell the difference between what words mean. When I say "thing" is right, I mean even if "think" came first, which I accept the sources quoted say it did, clearly a large subset of people have been saying thing all their lives, and so has everyone they ever knew, suggesting it's not ignorance or stupidity, it's what they've been brought up saying. I've also seen "thing" written down many times so it's not just mishearing. So it seems it has divided off and there are two usages, which both make sense to the people who use them.

This slightly technical language log article says they have both been going since 1919 and "you've got another thing coming" gets more google hits. That could be because of the Judas Priest song though, so I just tested:

"then you've got another think coming" and
"then you've got another thing coming"

(to try to get rid of the hits for the song)

Thing seems to win in common usage.

clam · 01/11/2015 22:02

Hang on, hang on, hang on! Reverse....

"Ignorance is a state of being uninformed (lack of knowledge). The word ignorant is an adjective describing a person in the state of being unaware and is often used as an insult to describe individuals who deliberately ignore or disregard important information or facts."

clam · 01/11/2015 22:00

Never heard anyone say either of those, unlucky!

unlucky83 · 01/11/2015 21:55

I think 'thing' is a northern thing - and I think it is probably down to a certain kind of humour - originated as a deliberate twist on 'think'...and I wouldn't use it as in the OP.... it would be as a threat.
I don't know if the people who use think have heard of being threatened 'you'll get something else if you are not careful'? - a similar threat.

And I would use 'if you think that you'd better have another think' in the context of the op...

A bit like I say 'I see said the blind mouse' rather than 'I see said the blind man' - my dad said mouse, I don't know if he made it up or he got it from someone else but I thought that was the saying for years until I heard someone use the 'correct' one...

StarkyTheDirewolf · 01/11/2015 21:47

See, I thought it was "another thing coming" as in, you have something else coming. You think one thing, but you have something else coming. I asked at the dinner table and had split reviews. Either way, I'm red in the face because the hearings been on full blast and I'm too warm. I suppose it's just one of those thinks Grin

JeanSeberg · 01/11/2015 21:45

Some of you need to get down off your pedalstools.

HolgerDanske · 01/11/2015 21:40
Grin

All in good fun, all in good fun Wink

clam · 01/11/2015 21:39

Whatever!

HolgerDanske · 01/11/2015 21:20

Grin at Maid

Was just about to formulate a similar sentence.

MaidOfStars · 01/11/2015 21:19

Another bugbear: people who don't know the formal meaning of 'ignorance' Wink

^^The kind of sentence that causes the world to fold in on itself.

potbellyroast · 01/11/2015 21:15

Pha ha ha clam ignorance....really?

clam · 01/11/2015 21:12

No, it's not a North/South thing. It's an ignorance/informed thing, which is of course nothing to do with geography.

Cel982 · 01/11/2015 21:06

It's very definitely 'think', as per the explanations above... but clearly lots of people have been getting it wrong, so try not to rub it in too much, OP ??

Libitina · 01/11/2015 21:05

Think as in 'you need to think again'

Yes, I agree with this comment.

potbellyroast · 01/11/2015 21:03

Got another 'thing' coming.... As in a wallop on the rear end when I was young. Not advocating that in any way though!!!

overthemill · 01/11/2015 20:57

Think as in 'you need to think again'

LookingUpAtTheStars · 01/11/2015 20:43

Northern here too and always said "thing".
I will now be saying "think" and in fact, I know some teens who will think they have gone mad when I tell the "it's thinK not thinG" instead of "it's thinG not thinK" (as in; anythink, nuffink, which they always get told off for!) Grin

MaidOfStars · 01/11/2015 20:40

I live in the north and everyone I know says 'think' (I think; see previous posts about confirmation bias).

Because, you know, we can speak English properly Wink

FatRun · 01/11/2015 20:35

Oh. I am a total spelling/grammar/vocab snob and I thought it was 'thing'!

ShockBlush

potbellyroast · 01/11/2015 20:33

Not read the whole thread Blush but is it a north/south thing??

I say thing - and I'm VERY northern Grin

clam · 01/11/2015 20:19

Oops, sorry, no, it was apologies for the "disappointment" I suffered.

clam · 01/11/2015 20:15

They sent me back a generic response apologising for the "inconvenience" and that they would try harder next time. Hmm

And there was a spelling mistake on the complaints website too. (You're/your)

LyndaNotLinda · 01/11/2015 20:10

Clam ShockShock I'm gobsmacked by Homebase!

QOD · 01/11/2015 19:53

It's think think think

clam · 01/11/2015 19:51

Oh dh acknowledged I was right. He just thought I was taking it too far to actually write a complaint. OK, and whinge on about it to anyone who would listen