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

[NotMyRealName2015]

I’ll clarify

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.
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.'

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?

It's thing 100%

100%?

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

I alWays thought it was thing.

Think sounds wrong although I can see how in the phrase 'If you think A you've got another think coming' think makes more sense.

I'm not sure I always preface the term 'you've got another thing coming' with the phrase 'if you think...' though.

Bramble - don't worry about Hully; some people seem to get really cross about this, but you ought to read the thread. At best you can say, it's "think 50%, thing 50%" based on this thread and the wider evidence of usage in the English-speaking world, but etymologically, think clearly wins as being right.

Think.

I feel bad now. I didn't mean to be horrible Bramblepie. It was just an observation. People do judge others who use words wrongly. They smile, but inside they narrow their eyes and beam judgement.

Like pedantic Daleks?

Yes, maybe I should but I just don't have time to read 27 pages right now! I just wanted my wee input.

Thanks DadDadDad and Ok, Hully, let's move on - no hard feelings. :)

Funny how something can be so split. I genuinely thought everyone would have said "think"! "Thing" makes sense I suppose but just doesn't flow as well for me.

It's 'think' - always was and always will be.

It's like the way some people now use 'been' instead of 'being' - "You are been silly" !!

And "drawers" and "draws"?

I say drawers.

It's think. Makes no sense as thing. Anyone who disagrees is just wrong

Think is obviously correct. To be fair I have never heard anyone say 'thing' instead.

The question is, how many of the people who originally said 'thing' will now more correctly say 'think'?

Wizard - if you read my post, I said 50/50 based on usage, but I knew someone would pick up on that. I've honestly not done a survey, so for all I know it could be 25/75, but my feeling is that there are a lot of people out there using thing, it may even be more than 50%.

oh, and please don't bang your head - no need to get so upset about a small detail in the messiness of a widely spoken, living language.