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

Discussions of the Day is making me sad. "Yay or nay".

It's yea. Means yes, hence the opposing "nay".

I don't have time, I just wanted to put what I say. The OP asked, was I not to say what I thought? Did you personally tell everyone else on this thread who said "think" that they were horribly thick too? How do you know "everyone" will think I am horribly thick, not just yourself?

You are not nice. Nice people don't have to tell everyone they are nice.

I am nice and my parents are simply bursting with pride.

Thanks for noticing.

If you read the eleven million posts you might see why yours is ever so slightly irritating.

OH and I can confirm that it has been "think" during our combined 134 years of life.

Hully Wow, what a nice person you are. Hope your parents are proud. You missed a full stop at the end of your sentence so guess that makes two of us that are "horribly thick". Also, it's Bramblepie not bramblepie. Use your grammar not just your horrible words.

Btw I'm a sad grammar nerd, and I'dnever heard of "for free"'s being a mistake till law school, where our Dean was a wonderfully pedantic type who went to town with his red pen on my essay on pro bono publico work. I say "for free" but never write it now.

100%?

It's thing 100%

Free is an adjective and should therefore not be preceded by a preposition.

Can I have that free (of charge)?
Can I have that for nothing?

I am intrigued now, what do you mean about 'for free'? I don't know what phrase you mean.

To me 'for free' means 'for no cost', e.g. 'Ocado gave me a lovely bottle of wine for free to celebrate my anniversary of shopping with them.'

(deliberately mumsnetty example)

Can we discuss 'for free' now, or is that for another day?

LatinForTelly

I expect that only you and I are in the slightest bit bothered about the pernicious use of 'for free' Even Mumsnet uses it ...

@hackmum

Why?

Well, we can't really tell who is right on the hearing point without doing some experiments. We'd need a variety of people to use it in normal emotive speech (not carefully enunciating THINK or THING) and get others to write down what they heard. I'd hypothesise that many would write what they expected to hear not what the speaker chose to say, but it is just a hypothesis for now!

dream on, daddaddad

They hear, and they judge.

And the rage comes from people's pigheaded refusal to accept they have been wrong, or their ridiculous efforts to contort language to fit their error.

People said can't be asked when I was at school, but they were just wrong This was Midlands in the 2000s.

I rarely make errors of this type, presumably I make some, but the ones I'm aware of, I always seem to wind up on the side which is considered more correct. I think it's because I read so much when I was a child, so by the time I actually paid attention to any idioms in order to use them myself I'd already seen them in print rather than only hearing them.

"Thing" kind of makes sense but I don't think I'd refer to a slap or whatever other punishment it refers to (because that's the inferred meaning of thing, right?) as "a (nother) thing". "Something", but not "a thing". Therefore "a think" makes more sense.

One thing (!) I'd like to pick on is the real sense of rage (eg Dumdedum) that some people feel at those who stubbornly stick with "thing". Honestly, it's not the end of the world!

"Thing coming" is widespread even among educated speakers. I like the quirkiness and messiness of that. If I hear someone say "thing" I won't judge them, but smile and enjoy the way eggcorning happens. It doesn't affect me and I have no problem understanding what they are trying to say.

HullyGully - unlikely, because in spoken English, "thing" will run into "coming" and they will probably just hear the version they think is right.

"Millions of educated intelligent people use thing"...too funny for words! No intelligent or educated person would use "thing" rather than "think"..!

Eh? While I accept that intelligent people should be able to appreciate the evidence is in favour of think and adopt that, you can't just assert that there aren't ANY intelligent people who are unaware (or don't care) and use "thing". I was one such intelligent person (I mean, I'm still intelligent, but I used to say thing). The language log link I posted earlier shows how thing has been used for example in the NY Times, which I believe has a reputation for strong copy editing and presumably an educated readership, some of whom have accepted it.

Ok, let's cut to the chase.

IF YOU SAY "THING" IT IS LIKELY THAT OUT OF POLITENESS NO ONE WILL CORRECT YOU.

BUT THEY WILL JUDGE YOU AND FIND YOU WANTING.

I've always said 'you've got another think coming" - I won't be changing it.

Sounds better anyway.

I am biting my own arm off at the wrong-headedness of the unrepentant things.

WHY do I keep checking the MN facebook page?

'Thing, cos I'm not an idiot.'