in hating "of" instead of "have"

[hairymclary]

I just cringe every time I see it.

My mum is a lecturer and it is one of her pet hates when she is marking exam papers! I think it is horrendous - excusable in those for whom English is a second language (possibly), but it doesn't reflect well on the standard of our education system...

But is this like you know like putting like infront of like everything so nothing is like actual but like something else.

I was convinced it was 'thing' as well but now I'm confused!

Another one that irritates me when written down is 'seen as' instead of 'seeing as'. E.g 'I'll make a sandwich seen as you're here.' No!!!

Ansolutely not, dinosaur. The briefest of googlings reveals that it is still very much being discussed here and here , for example. Many people's objections to "thing" are the same as mine. So what if more people favour "think"? Never underestimate "propagation of error" factor.

Well it turns out that a LOT of people think it's "another thing coming".

I am quite surprised.

Good on you for hating this, but English is my second language so I sometimes rely on a spell checker and who's at fault then?

Ok then what about "I couldn't care less" vs "I could care less"?

I just think it's far more likely to have started out as 'thing' and become 'think' for soem people through corruption of the sound, than vice-versa. The propagation of error has allowed it to take hold.

We see it happening now with "nevermind" being written as one word, and "anymore", and - back to the OP - "should of". Not to mention "your leaving" on actual printed greeting cards.

OK so it turns out both are in common use.

So which was the original?

This is a citation from a speech by Governor William Sulzer, given in April 1913. "If you think I will not fight then you have another think coming.".

link

There is apparently a citation for "another thing coming" found in the New York Herald in 1919.

Ah, looking again that is a secondary source. Apparently the OED has a primary source for "think" is 1937.

Of course, there is no guarantee that, when it's written down from speech - either way - it is rendered as the speaker said or intended it. So I go on logic.

I have never heard anyone say 'think' rather than 'thing' in the saying 'another thing coming'. Do people really say 'think'?? Is it a regional difference?

My interpretation has always been that to say someone has another thing coming is a threat and that the 'thing' that is coming is a chastisement or punishment.

You certainly learn something new every day on MN!

vimfuego, that's earlier than the reference I found:

["You have another think coming"
"If you think that, you have another think coming" means "You are mistaken and will soon have to alter your opinion". This is now sometimes heard with "thing" in place of "think", but "think" is the older version. Eric Partridge, in A Dictionary of Catch Phrases, gives the phrase as "you have another guess coming", "US: since the 1920s, if not a decade or two earlier". Clearly "think" is closer to "guess" than "thing" is. The OED gives a citation with "think" from 1937, and no evidence for "thing". Merriam-Webster Editorial Department writes: "When an informal poll was conducted here at Merriam-Webster, about 60% of our editors favored 'thing' over 'think,' a result that runs counter to our written evidence."
From The alt.usage.english FAQ File

end snip

A couple of websites I visited claim that this phrase is changing from its original deliberately and humorously ungrammatical form to a grammatically correct form that misses the point - because people are overly keen to avoid errors. However, most authorities, such as they are, seem to go with "another think".]

Definitely "think". Even without the above.

suedonim - I have never consciously heard anyone say 'think' rather than 'thing' - it was only recently that I even became aware of people who wrote it as such! A huge revelation to me that so many people unthinkingly get it wrong!

oh - you found it anyway!

Have only just seen this thread and I'm voting for "another thing coming" as well.

And one that always irks me is the muddling of "learn" and "teach".

As in "can you learn me how to do this?"
No - I can teach you how to do it, or you can learn how to do it, but I cannot learn you how.

oh yes, DW gets that one from the kids she teaches! Appalling.

As a child, friends at school would ask me to "learn them" how to do whatever. Even then I would cringe - must have made me a pretty obnoxious child I reckon now.

A huge revelation to me as well, UQD. Doesn't Lynn Truss have anything to say on the subject?

This is all a bit like the phrase "bog standard" which was investigated on Balderdash and Piffle.

When I was a child my Dad always used to say "bulk standard" which made sense to me, i.e. something uniformly made in large quantities, but everyone else I know has only heard it as "bog standard".