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Pedants' corner

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Original poster

My friend uses the wrong words...

411 replies

nickytwotimes · 12/02/2008 13:23

My very good, kind and lovely friend uses the word "pacific" rather than the correct term "specific". My fellow pedants, what do I do? I have turned a blind eye (or deaf ear) to it thus far, but it drives me crazy. Another lovely friend responded to my ds saying "How do you do?" (he is 18 mths - very cute!) by saying "Very well thank you and how are you?"!

Am I going straight to hell for being so judgemental?

OP posts:
UnquietDad · 13/02/2008 09:30

A think is not a thought. And as I said above you can replace the verb "think" with a number of others - hope, believe, etc. I am eternally obdurate on this matter.

Threadworm · 13/02/2008 09:39

I'm with Rosa Luxembourg on this one.

If you think/believe/congnise/imagine/envisage that the playful use of 'think' instead of 'thought', or the substitutability of a million different words which are all forms of cognition and therefore all 'thinks', are evidence that 'another think coming' is not the primary and correct form of this colloquilism ... then you've another think coming.

After all, if it were correctly 'another thing coming', what would be the significance of the 'If you think/(believe/etc.)...'? There is 'another thing coming' regardless, but there is only another think coming if the original think was wrong.

Bluestocking · 13/02/2008 09:41

I vote for "think".

UnquietDad · 13/02/2008 09:42

threadworm - it is so, so easy. You think, believe, imagine or hope one thing is going to happen (come to you). That thing is of benefit or pleasure to you. In reality, another thing will be happening (coming to you). It will be less pleasant or beneficial.

"If she imagines she's doing that, she's got another thing coming."

Threadworm · 13/02/2008 09:48

But the 'another thing' isn't conditional on her earlier cognition, in the way that the 'if' construction implies.

And also, why would the phrase have cometo prominence if it weren't for the playful coinage of 'think' to mean 'thought'? The whole logic and rhythm of the expression is a product of 'think' in the first half being playfully replicated by the erroneous 'think' in the second half.

midnightexpress · 13/02/2008 09:59
mangolassi · 13/02/2008 10:15

Think think think

RosaLuxOnTheBrightSideOfLife · 13/02/2008 10:20

Magnificent, Threadworm.

Threadworm · 13/02/2008 10:23
UnquietDad · 13/02/2008 10:32

Nope, uncompelling. I disagree that "the whole logic and rhythm of the expression is a product of 'think' in the first half being playfully replicated by the erroneous 'think' in the second half". I've said everything in my earlier posts and just risk repeating myself, to be honest.

Ayomi · 13/02/2008 10:35

can and may is my biggest bugbear. I have even taken to correcting my boss on this one. Oh, and his use of the word stationary in the pen and paper context...
I must be a joy to work with

pageturner · 13/02/2008 10:44

So, am I alone with disinterested/uninterested? Surely not!

FWIW, I agree with Rosa and Threadworm...'think' it is.

IorekByrnison · 13/02/2008 10:46

I am amazed that you do not find Threadworm's arguments compelling, UnquietDad.

I'm sure that you won't be convinced by this either but I will say it anyway.

In order for the phrase to mutate from one to the other, you would expect the original to have been repeatedly misheard and this mishearing perpetuated in the retelling, causing a new version to come into existence.

It is very unlikely that you would hear "another thing coming" and think that the person had said "another think". It doesn't sound like think, and is ungrammatical and odd.

However, on hearing "another think coming", it is very likely indeed that you would rationalise the sound into "another thing coming", as hearing "think" used as a noun in this way is so perverse, and the k of think could easily be heard as the c of coming.

So, you can see a process by which it mutated from "think" to "thing", but not the other way round.

"Think" came first.

IorekByrnison · 13/02/2008 10:47

pageturner - I care about disinterested/uninterested too. But I am more exasperated by infer/imply.

pageturner · 13/02/2008 10:56

Thank you IB! Agree about infer/imply. I have a horrible feeling though that the (clear) distinction between uninterested and disinterested is going to go all together and they will become synonymous. Mind you, infer/imply may be going the same way...

Whatever happened to the subtle nuances of our fine language? It just seems to be going down the lavatory of homogeneity.

UnquietDad · 13/02/2008 11:30

Iorek - totally disagree, as I see and hear it completely the other way.

It is very easy to hear "thing" and imagine that what has been said is "think" - especially given the potential for unintentional liaison with the "c" of "coming". Just listen to how often lax speakers mutate "something" into "somefink" and "anything" into "anyfink".

I see the logic of the argument that you wouldn't get one "think" arising from mutation and not the other, but then I have always argued that the expression is not exclusively used with the verb "think" - as shown above, one can use "if you hope/fear/believe", etc.

onebatmother · 13/02/2008 12:00

UQD:
"If she imagines she's doing that, she's got another thing coming."

Would actually be:

"If she imagines she's doing that, she's got a different thing coming."

onebatmother · 13/02/2008 12:01

because 'another' is 'an additional' ..

Threadworm · 13/02/2008 12:02

Yes, I thought that too. But I fear UQD is trenchant on this matter, even holding out against an Armoured Bear.

pageturner · 13/02/2008 12:35

Does anyone else get a warm fuzzy feeling to see such empassioned argument over the vagaries of the English language?

UnquietDad · 13/02/2008 12:55

That's an interesting tangent to the argument. Whether you are a Thingie or a Thinkie, is the "another" an extra one or a different one?

MotherFunk · 13/02/2008 14:03

Message withdrawn

RosaLuxOnTheBrightSideOfLife · 13/02/2008 14:42

It's a different THINK that is coming. The expression means as any fule kno that 'you may believe that now but you will be forced to revise your opinion in the not too distant future'.

onebatmother · 13/02/2008 15:57

someone has probably already said this, sorry if so.

The alternative expression is:

"If you think you are right, UQD, think again."

Which clarifies everything, I believe.

UnquietDad · 13/02/2008 16:03

Er, no, that expression has nothing to do with it. Totally different. Yes, you can think again but you can't have a think "coming" to you.

To me it's associated in my mind with someone having "what's coming to them". You know - "if he does that he'll get what's coming to him." The thing which is coming in this case is "another thing".