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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:
Botbot · 14/02/2008 08:55

It's 'another think coming'! It's a deliberately ungrammatical joke!

Copied from the OED Online:

b. to have another think coming: to be greatly mistaken.

1937 Amer. Speech XII. 317/1 Several different statements used for the same ideathat of some one's making a mistake...[e.g.] you have another think coming. 1942 T. BAILEY Pink Camellia xxvii. 199 If you think you can get me out of Gaywood, you have another think coming. 1979 Jrnl. R. Soc. Arts CXXVII. 221/2 Any design consultant who thinks he is going to get British Leyland right by himself on his own has got another think coming.

Can we declare this closed now?

BumperliciousIsOneHotMother · 14/02/2008 10:29

Arrrggh I hate "could care less". If you could care less then you are quite caring actually, which defeats the object of the phase.

I must admit that it never occurred to me that it might be "another think coming" I've never seen than written before, and I don't think I have a very discerning ear. But DH assures me that it is 'think' and tbh it does make more sense, and I like it better!

Botbot · 14/02/2008 10:48

'Could care less' is the standard American version. I don't get it. Can't get my head round it at all. But they do say it.

chuggabopps · 14/02/2008 11:15

just a quick question to add to the "another *** coming."
My mother when using this phrase would say either Lady Jane, or Madam afterwards, ie refering to me.

Who would this have refered to? Was there a lady jane? Was she a madam, ie brothel keeper? where does this come from?
Have heard other peoples parents use similar so know its not just one my mum made up.

any ideas?

StealthPolarBear · 14/02/2008 11:20

no idea sorry, but my mum did make up her own phrases (along with her sister)!
Was she on the 'think' or 'thing' side?

PennyBenjamin · 14/02/2008 11:21

Declared fabulous on a thread of pedants - this could be the high point of my life so far!

~comes over all faint~

Well, I'm a lawyer, and therefore live in a realm of pedants rarely glimpsed by ordinary mortals. I'm not even close to the most pedantic person I know. I am regularly reduced to awed silence by the people I work with. They taught me everything I know!

chuggabopps · 14/02/2008 11:31

It was think in our family.

Since moving north in adult life I have discovered many things which I thought were correct just have different local conotations. Such as different names for bread, (cobs, buns etc) paths (passage, ginnels etc).
The word usage that anoys me most in Bradford (that I refuse to join in with) is the phrase "out on a night" rather than "out at night".
The divide on here makes me wonder if there were just local differences that could account for these opinions, or even if its is a percieved class thing, percieved by previous generations rather than the current users.

StealthPolarBear · 14/02/2008 11:35

I'm a northerner and probably guilty of "out on a night", never really thought about it but it does sound very clumsy
Not that I ever go out on a night. Or at night. Ever.

UnquietDad · 14/02/2008 11:40

chugga - "on a weekend" is another. Yes, I had the same experience with "cobs" and so on.

PB - a lawyer - I should have guessed!

Problem is, if I find evidence for "thing" and it's more recent, does that automatically invalidate it? Not at all.

Disagree by all means, but please don't declare the subject "closed" when there is obviously still disagreement. The Collins corpus citations just illustrate the difference of opinion. Tech may be right and "thing" is taking over. We'll see.

clam · 14/02/2008 12:10

What about "of an evening?" That irritates me, but may be technically OK. And there's another Americanism creeping in which is referring to the date as July 7th. Don't we say July THE 7th over here?? Not to mention Monday through Friday. Bah!

clam · 14/02/2008 12:12

Oh, and while I'm at it.... "Can I get a latte?" as opposed to "please may I have...?"

IorekByrnison · 14/02/2008 12:16

This debate needs putting out of its misery.

All the evidence suggests that "think" was the original version, and that it mutated into "thing" upon repeated mishearings.

Both are in common usage however, and both have merits. "Think" makes more sense for all the reasons discussed, but "thing" is less aggressively ugly.

It is a horrible phrase anyway. If one believes an acquaintance to be labouring under a delusion one should take the trouble to explain why, not just yell "you've got another thing/think coming" like a fishwife.

IorekByrnison · 14/02/2008 12:18

Clam - no we don't we say 7th July! What exactly did happen on the 9th November 2001 anyway?

hecate · 14/02/2008 12:18

My best friend used to say "mushtashe". Concrete boots, I'm afraid. There was no other way. You understand that I had to, don't you?

chuggabopps · 14/02/2008 12:24

Clam- if anyone asked me if they could get a latte then I would say "yes and one for me too" and show them where the kettle is.

Equally annoying is the wrong use of learn and teach, and lend and borrow. ("that will learn you") Yuck!

IorekByrnison · 14/02/2008 12:27

I think mushtache is nice. Reminds me of the old Cypriot waiter in a cafe I used to frequent who was always encouraging us to have bubble and squeak by growling "you want bubblezssh?"

onebatmother · 14/02/2008 12:45

botbot, you are absolutely right, 'could care less' is madness!

It means 'I care'..

They are derbrains sometimes.

clam · 14/02/2008 12:58

7th of July, surely?

IorekByrnison · 14/02/2008 13:01

If spoken rather than written, yes I agree, clam.

LavenderMist · 14/02/2008 13:08

Surely 'I could care less' is meant to be said in an ironic/sarcastic way, with the emphasis on could, not care. So the meaning is "it might be possible that I could care less about it, but probably not".

And it's clearly 'think' not 'thing'.

Blimey, I'm brave, one of my first posts and I'm wading in to the crocodile pit.

StealthPolarBear · 14/02/2008 13:11

LavenderMist, yes, when you put it like that it makes a bit more sense. "I could care less - but it's unlikely / I'd have to try hard / but only just" - that kind of thing.
Welcome to the crocodile pit BTW!

chuggabopps · 14/02/2008 13:18

LM- I always thought it was more in the context of "I couldn't care less if I tried"?
rather than sarcasm, but your seems perfectly plausible when spoken as written its is more difficult to express sarcasm.

BumperliciousIsOneHotMother · 14/02/2008 13:20

Following on from chugga I moved from sarf east London to weymouth when I was 16 and all the locals would say "where to" instead of "where" or "where's it to" instead to where is it. I remember being in college and me and this northern girl were the only non dorset people there and she said "I'm getting my hair cut later" and one of our friends replied "oh where to?" and she said "about here" indicating the length of her hair and the other girl said "no, where are you getting your hair cut?"

And this exchange took part in the middle of an English Language class. You couldn't make it up!

Deux · 14/02/2008 13:27

Goodness, must be think, surely? Otherwise it wouldn't work for me.

For example, 'if you think I'm picking up your socks again, you've got another think coming'. Thing just wouldn't work. Am I missing something here? Must be preceeded by the if statement surely? .

hecate · 14/02/2008 13:29

You're new, LavenderMist?

FYI - we prefer vipers nest

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