This is the worst thing I’ve seen in a long time

[noblegiraffe]

Worse than Brexit. How can we have fallen so low? ‘Thing’ doesn’t make any sense!

‘Dog’ not fog, obv.

I think the change of the phrase from ‘think’ to ‘thing’ ( or the mishearing) may stem from the fact it sounds uncomfortable and grammatically incorrect to say the last think in the sentence and really it should be ‘thought!’ To make it sound more palatable some folk probably just heard or used ‘thing’.

You may well think it sounds uncomfortable, but it isn't grammatically incorrect. An unusual construction isn't the same as an incorrect one.

I don’t think grammar looms large in the minds of those who adopt ‘thing’. I think it became popular when people started to read less. And pick up phrases from mishearing them rather than reading them.

This. The 'Thingers' aren't like that Bristol grammar vigilante guy who went around correcting shop signs by night -- they're the kind of people who quote the internet a lot, and say 'They say...' as though it confers some kind of authority on some batshit theory.

I know I'm missing the point of the OP but I just wanted to share this. I saw a post in a facebook seek and seek group in which an adult woman asked for recommendations on where to buy personalised party bloons. Bloons! I actually think this is wonderful and very sweet even though I'm shaking my head at an adult thinking that was the correct spelling and pronunciation of balloons...
Also on the subject of wrongly worded / misunderstood idioms - every time I hear anyone say 'horses for courses' I'm a bit taken aback because I can only hear it in the original and intended form (which makes far more sense) 'horses fuck horses'!

'Think is a verb, not a noun. So how can you have a 'think' coming to/for/at you? A 'thing' however, is a noun. It's perfectly plausible to have a 'thing' coming to/for/at you.'

So I take it you don't wish to go (verb) away and have (verb) another think (noun) about this?

WordInYourShellLike
This is a whole new thread.
Like someone my friend knows who goes out 'treacle treating' at Halloween!

Devora13 - yes, that would be a great thread! Go on, you start one
I quite like 'treacle treating' as well, even though it makes no sense...

Oh and the insistence on using 'pack lunch' on some school forums, like you're providing take away food for all the children from Lord of the Flies.

Well I have learned somethink new today

Erm...wasn’t that what said ‘from mishearing’...I didn’t mention reading. Although when has reading become ‘less popular’?!

Although when has reading become ‘less popular’?!

Since many kids started spending hours on screens rather than reading books.

I don’t think grammar looms large in the minds of those who adopt ‘thing’. I think it became popular when people started to read less.

Nope. I've always thought it was "thing" and I could not have read more during my formative years.

Also on the subject of wrongly worded / misunderstood idioms - every time I hear anyone say 'horses for courses' I'm a bit taken aback because I can only hear it in the original and intended form (which makes far more sense) 'horses fuck horses'!

Do explain how horse sex makes far more sense than horse racing, @WordInYourShellLike.

I don't think those who think it's 'thing' are less well-read. It's not a very common phrase to see in print - it's much more commonly a conversational / spoken thing.

I just spoke to my husband about it. He's very well-read and intelligent and usually has impeccable grammar, but until we spoke he had always thought it was 'thing'. He also thinks it's because he only ever heard the phrase (rather than reading it) and misheard because the K of 'think' and the C of 'coming' blend together.

Well I stupidly looked up 'horses fuck horses', because it sounds reasonable.

What the hell was I thinking?

I don't know, @macem, but I bet you're a sadder and wiser woman now.

I am assuming the 'horses fuck horses' poster is joking, mind you.

I hope ‘horses fuck horses’ was a joke. Doesn’t sound like it in the post though! It’s a horse racing thing, isn’t it? You need to match your horse to the course, like the same horse wouldn’t win a flat race as a steeplechase, or on wet and dry going. Therefore pick the horses for courses, the most suitable horse for the course being the metaphor for the most suitable whatever it is you have to pick. Sorry if that’s a massive overexplain of a joke!
And it’s think. Obviously.
Also ‘off his own baT’ not ‘baCK’.

I hope ‘horses fuck horses’ was a joke

Said quickly and without clear enunciation I can see how "horses for courses" could sound like "horses fuck horses".

Which is no word of a lie, at the of the day. ¯\(ツ)/¯

Although when has reading become ‘less popular’?!
Since computers, computer games, x boxes, social media, 24 hour telly.
Since those all became an option.

Thing does make sense because the current objects are being joined by another.

Think is also correct

Thing doesn’t make sense because there are no current objects. A think isn’t an object, even though it’s being used as a noun. Also it’s not correct, as numerous links have shown.
Think is correct. Not a,so correct, just correct. Thing is incorrect.

@Ponoka7

Ponoka7

doggy dog world, comes from Snoop Dog. It sums up life for many black, poor, Americans (and no doubt other nations).

Heaven forbid that we recognise any culture/sayings/language that doesn't spring from white, at least MC men.

Really?! I’m BAME and I’ve never heard this! Do you have a link?

CheeryB not less popular in our house. However does that mean ‘another thing’ has only popped into existence in the last 20 years or so because I’ve been saying it all my life and I’m in my 50s.