Pedants unite! Please come & vote for “another think coming”!

[GiantKitten]

Dominic Grieve is reported to have said “another thing”!
In the Commons

mobile.twitter.com/Natt/status/1169200952949321728

Think is a verb

And also a noun, as a really quick Google will tell you

And has been for a long time:

As a noun, think, "act of prolonged thinking," is attested by 1834.

Of course think is also a noun. Have a think. Have a rethink.

Yes but it's used as a verb in the beginning of the sentence, so surely the assumption is that it's still a verb when used in the latter part.

If you use 'thing', then the meaning of the sentence can be taken as 'If you think that, you've got a shock coming'. The shock is the thing that's coming. It makes perfect sense.

*@Mitebiteatnite, your desire for correct syntax, while laudable in itself, doesn't override the fact that this idiom relies on the repetition of 'think' for humorous emphasis. If you want to be 'correct' you could substitute 'If you think I'm going to clean up your mess, you've got another thought coming', but that's just so boring.

The other thing could also be a disappointment, if you were hoping to go to a party on a school night, for example.

We wouldn't say 'ooh I've just had a think (noun), where will we park when we go to the museum?'. We'd say 'I've had a thought' or 'I've been thinking'.

surely the assumption is that it's still a verb when used in the latter part

What? No, sorry, you are entirely wrong about this. Imagine how limiting this assumption would be to the way we all use words day to day.

Half the reason colloquial expressions become established in the first place is because language is interesting, flexible and multi-layered enough to allow for a single word to carry more than one meaning.

Thing.

It has to be think doesn't it?
Mind you, using thing wouldn't grate on my nerves half as much as the people on my local Facebook selling page who list their items for sale as "Thinks"

People absolutely would, and routinely do, say that they have had a think or will have a think. You hear it all the time. “I’ll have a think and get back to you.”

It’s been normal usage for a long time.

think

Yes but you wouldn't use think to describe a thought that has popped into your head. 'I've had a think' means I have been doing some thinking, not 'I' ve had a thought'.

Like I said, I never use the phrase as I hate it. Perhaps, as a PP pointed out, my desire for correct syntax overrides everything else

OK, but nobody here has claimed that “a think” means the same thing as “a thought”, Mite. You’re correcting a mistake nobody has made. We understand already that an individual thought isn’t the same as a period of thinking/of consideration.

That’s why people would be unlikely to use “think” as a noun in your earlier example sentence about the museum parking. Not because it isn’t a noun - but because it wasn’t a fitting example. You had the wrong idea about the type of noun it was.

And if you think “to have a think” is incorrect syntax, you have another think coming. You may not like it much, but the syntax is perfectly sound.

Its [sic] always been thing in my world. We've had threads on this before and it's always 50/50.

Not true. The threads very clearly say that think is correct. Thing is incorrect.

Can be either. Both make sense used in different contexts

Another think coming is right, but and for another thing is right

Can be either.

no, it really can't.

You've got another think coming, ie you need to think again.

From the Concise OED, which I happen to have on my desk:

think n. (informal) an act of thinking

phrases
have (got) another think coming (informal) used to express disagreement

no phrases under the word thing. Because that's wrong.

yellow the phrase you are thinking of is "and another thing...", and in, "i've got something else to say on this topic to ram my point home".

two completely different phrases using completely different words with completely different meanings.

People can say and write the hell they like as long as they don’t write “lose” as “loose”. Please don’t ever, ever, ever do that again.

To address the OP, there comes a stage where the wrong usage has become so commonplace that it is no longer wrong, as language evolves organically. So, if you were, say, fighting for “another think” 50 years ago or whatever good on you, there was still hope then. But, I’m afraid the “think/thing” game is pretty much already lost now. You might not like it, but that’s simply how most languages work.

People who think that 'think' can only be a verb have got another think coming.

Seriously... how do people not understand that "It's what I've always said and it's what all my friends say" doesn't mean it's correct? Gazillions of people say all kinds if totally incorrect things all the bloody time!

How can there be another thing coming when there was never a first thing? The saying has to be used in full and then the meaning is clear. If you think that, then you have another think coming.

It's definitely think. Thing doesn't make sense.

Cam only this thread shows that the majority do know and use the correct form.