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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:
Oblique27 · 01/11/2015 15:59

Well I always thought my husband was a highly intelligent man till we just disagreed about this. I am right, of course, it's Think!!!! ??

OnlyLovers · 01/11/2015 15:58

So we should all say "if you think I am doing that, another thought will come to you, in which you realise I am not doing that"

Well, the phrase 'if you think I am doing that, you've another think coming* exists so that we DON'T have to say all that.

It means the same thing though.

Arfarfanarf · 01/11/2015 15:58

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

squoosh · 01/11/2015 15:58

THINK.

And if you have a tenderhook/tenterhook argument next week it's TENTER.

FattyNinjaOwl · 01/11/2015 15:58

I know what you mean but a think can't come. So a think can't be coming. A thing can. "There is something coming, a thing with a big butt"

Kathysclown · 01/11/2015 15:57

It's 'think'!!!

TheQuestingVole · 01/11/2015 15:56

It's 'think'.

People who say 'thing' aren't hearing it properly.

disappoint15 · 01/11/2015 15:56

But it isn't even wrong. See my earlier post. 'Think' is a valid noun. Have a think about it. See if you get what I mean.

EcclefechanTart · 01/11/2015 15:55

It's THINK, of course. It means that you need to think again. How would "thing" make any sense??

Dulceetdecorum · 01/11/2015 15:54

I've never heard anyone say 'thing' before. It doesn't make sense - 'another thing coming'.

People will be saying 'the proof is in the pudding next' aaaaargh.

FattyNinjaOwl · 01/11/2015 15:53

So think is wrong on purpose. So they both make zero sense. So we should all say "if you think I am doing that, another thought will come to you, in which you realise I am not doing that"

clam · 01/11/2015 15:52

Jesus Christ, it's THINK!!!!!!

Ffs.

"But I may be wrong. If I am then so is everyone else I've ever met!"

Yep. They are.

emotionsecho · 01/11/2015 15:51

It may be a different phrase Fatty but it is what the 'another think coming' phrase means, it is a play on words for effect using 'thing' makes it a nonsense and loses the play on words effect.

disappoint15 · 01/11/2015 15:49

It's obviously 'think'. 'Think' is widely used as a noun in phrases such as 'Can you have a think about it?' or 'I'll have another think about the best way to do it', so it's not even really a play on words. The only unusual thing about it is the notion of 'a think coming' but then 'a thing coming' would be just as strange and additionally would make no sense in the context of the first half of the expression.

Arfarfanarf · 01/11/2015 15:48

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

FattyNinjaOwl · 01/11/2015 15:46

But think again is a different phrase!
As I said of I'm wrong then so is everyone I've ever met.

FurryDogMother · 01/11/2015 15:46

It is most definitely THINK and always has been - ie, you have thought once, and have another think coming (in other words, you need to change your mind, or way of thinking). 'Thing' is a result of people mishearing - it is wrong.

HeteronormativeHaybales · 01/11/2015 15:45

I'm Team Think. What OnlyLovers said ^.

BoreOfWhabylon · 01/11/2015 15:45

Of course it's think

It's another way of saying 'if you think that, think again'

emotionsecho · 01/11/2015 15:44

Which makes no sense at all Fatty.

Would you say "If you think that you need to thing again" or would you say "If you think that you need to think again" which is what the phrase "If you think that, you've got another think coming" means.

OnlyLovers · 01/11/2015 15:43

No, the repeated 'think' is deliberate and for rhetorical effect.

Writtenbyme · 01/11/2015 15:41

I have never heard anyone say 'think'.

Always thought it was 'thing' and meant as a lighthearted threat.

StarkyTheDirewolf · 01/11/2015 15:41

Exactly fatty that's my thought process to it too!

FattyNinjaOwl · 01/11/2015 15:41

But I may be wrong. If I am then so is everyone else I've ever met!

FattyNinjaOwl · 01/11/2015 15:40

I've always said thing. No one I've met IRL has ever said think. I only saw think on here.

I know everyone is saying its a play in words but think makes no sense to me.

I always thought it was ...
if you think I am going to do that thing, then you have another thing coming (because I'm doing this thing instead) So the "thing" is what you are doing IYSWIM.

So if you think I'm going to do the garden, you have another thing coming. That thing being me sat on my arse eating biscuits.