Page 5 | You've got another think coming...

soupyspoon · 2025-07-26T10:46:20+00:00

I mean god preserve us (someone will pick me up that I didn't capitalise god ...) Another thread, which I think we're not allowed to talk about probably, massive argument about... ^You've got another think coming.^ People think that it's '^you've got another thing coming'^

BrickBiscuit · 27/07/2025 06:10

WhisperGold · 26/07/2025 23:25

I think it raises the question.
Begging the question is something quite different, and too complex for me to remember what it means exactly. But it's not that.

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But that begs the question: if you don’t remember what it means exactly, how are you able to determine the difference?

You are absolutely right though.

PeonyBulb · 27/07/2025 06:11

Cattery · 26/07/2025 11:57

“If you think that you’ve got another think coming” ie think again. How can it possibly be ‘thing’?

I’ve never heard the full sentence actually.

Only ever the last part ‘you’ve got another ‘thing’ coming

so it actually makes more sense now you’ve written it out fully @Cattery

but I do agree with PP that ‘thing’ could mean more than just a thought ie think

‘another Thing coming’ I’m fairly sure I thought might be a clip round the ear or something like that ie a physical punishment perhaps. Not sure why I might have thought that possibly.

PeonyBulb · 27/07/2025 06:20

NerdyBird · 26/07/2025 14:18

If I am remembering my many, many, years ago uni linguistics class correctly, this is to do with the ellision (?) of the two ‘k’ sounds in ‘think’ and ‘coming’. It ends up being more of a ‘g’ sound and because ‘thing’ is a word and ‘goming’ isn’t, lots of people hear it as ‘thing’.

Yes this makes sense and also as to how words and phrases can change over time

LaurieFairyCake · 27/07/2025 10:52

HA!! We’re all right (love this thread). I’m Scottish and we know it as ‘thing’ but as loads have rightly pointed out in England the original is ‘think’. But BOTH ARE RIGHT.

Wait for the photos

BrickBiscuit · 27/07/2025 12:58

LaurieFairyCake · 27/07/2025 10:52

HA!! We’re all right (love this thread). I’m Scottish and we know it as ‘thing’ but as loads have rightly pointed out in England the original is ‘think’. But BOTH ARE RIGHT.

Wait for the photos

On the contrary, one is WRONG but accepted. A bit like ‘should of’ will no doubt become - but should not.

Trovindia · 27/07/2025 15:02

Oftenaddled · 26/07/2025 20:15

With respect, if you're not willing to explain why I'm wrong, I'll stick with my view - and the evidence of widespread establishment usage - that both are fine.

"Think" does not need to be repeated - though the wordplay is fun in that version. "Another" does not need to refer to a specific word already used. The logic of the expression works either way. It's a slightly different logic either way, but that's okay.

"Think" is the version I've always used, but that simply doesn't make an alternative idiom incorrect.

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I have explained, multiple times, you just don't seem to understand. I've run out of ways to rephrase it so I'm giving up.

Oftenaddled · 27/07/2025 15:20

BrickBiscuit · 27/07/2025 12:58

On the contrary, one is WRONG but accepted. A bit like ‘should of’ will no doubt become - but should not.

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Language isn't a set of rules. It's a set of conventions. The "think" version, a relatively recent journalistic invention, was quickly heard as and understood as the "thing" version. Since both are perfectly sensible and grammatical, with meanings everyone hearing them seems to have been able to derive and apply easily, both have flourished.

People like to try to insist variants in idioms are wrong, or are breaking some rule cleverer people know about, but that's not how language works.

SharpLily · 27/07/2025 15:37

Anyone who thinks it's 'thing' is a bit hard of thinking. It doesn't make sense no matter how many linguistic knots you tie yourself into. See also 'should/would of'. Language evolving? No. Education devolving.

Steelworks · 27/07/2025 15:42

SharpLily · 27/07/2025 15:37

Anyone who thinks it's 'thing' is a bit hard of thinking. It doesn't make sense no matter how many linguistic knots you tie yourself into. See also 'should/would of'. Language evolving? No. Education devolving.

Why not? To me, ‘thing’ makes sense, as ‘a thing’ is an object, so you’re saying you’ve got another ‘object’ coming soon. To me, ‘think’ doesn’t make sense, and should it actually be thought, not think. Why gave you got another think/ thought coming soon?

CaptainMyCaptain · 27/07/2025 15:44

Oftenaddled · 27/07/2025 15:20

Language isn't a set of rules. It's a set of conventions. The "think" version, a relatively recent journalistic invention, was quickly heard as and understood as the "thing" version. Since both are perfectly sensible and grammatical, with meanings everyone hearing them seems to have been able to derive and apply easily, both have flourished.

People like to try to insist variants in idioms are wrong, or are breaking some rule cleverer people know about, but that's not how language works.

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It's not a recent journalistic invention.

CaptainMyCaptain · 27/07/2025 15:45

Steelworks · 27/07/2025 15:42

Why not? To me, ‘thing’ makes sense, as ‘a thing’ is an object, so you’re saying you’ve got another ‘object’ coming soon. To me, ‘think’ doesn’t make sense, and should it actually be thought, not think. Why gave you got another think/ thought coming soon?

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I'm going to have a thought.
I'm going to have a think.

Two different meanings.

Vroomfondleswaistcoat · 27/07/2025 15:48

I write books for a living and have a professional, employed by my publisher, editor.

I had to argue with her (and this WAS the hill I would die on) for 'another think coming'. My EDITOR, well qualified and well paid, tried to make me change it to Thing... I gave her the whole 'if you think this then you've got another think coming' sentence and she gave in and let me have my way, but I am still not sure it got through.

SharpLily · 27/07/2025 15:48

Steelworks · 27/07/2025 15:42

Why not? To me, ‘thing’ makes sense, as ‘a thing’ is an object, so you’re saying you’ve got another ‘object’ coming soon. To me, ‘think’ doesn’t make sense, and should it actually be thought, not think. Why gave you got another think/ thought coming soon?

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Because the whole point of the phrase is the play of repeating the word 'think'.

ItsLikeThatAndThatsTheWayItIss · 27/07/2025 15:49

Tryingtokeepgoing · 26/07/2025 12:41

Shouldn’t it be ‘which I think we’re probably not allowed to talk about’ rather than ‘which I think we’re not allowed to talk about, probably,’? Or to be even more pedantic, ‘that I think we’re probably not allowed to talk about’?

But then that also begs the question whether there ought to be a space between closing quotation marks and a question mark, and whether single or double quotation marks are appropriate for a UK hosted but international (of sorts…) forum 😂

It doesn’t “beg the question”, it “raises the question”. Begging the question is about creating a tautological argument. In this context, “it raises the question” would be the correct phrasing. This is one of the very few things I remember from my Philosophy degree!

Stuck in an eternal circle of pedantry (feel like there is a pun related to Dante’s circles of hell, here 🤣)

Oftenaddled · 27/07/2025 15:51

CaptainMyCaptain · 27/07/2025 15:44

It's not a recent journalistic invention.

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I mean relatively recent within the history of language - late 19th century I think from the links people are posting? It's an expression someone came up with that is quite fun and caught on. So did a variant, helped by a popular song it seems.

mydogisthebest · 27/07/2025 16:23

This drives me mad/ It is definitely think. My mum used the phrase saying things like "If you think you are going out in that skirt you have another think coming". That makes sense. Thing does not and never would.

Anyone who thinks it should be thing is, quite honestly, an idiot

mathanxiety · 27/07/2025 16:28

soupyspoon · 26/07/2025 15:41

No, Im having a long hard think. Having a think. Going to have a think

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I accept those examples.

But "I need a think" isn't the same.

Steelworks · 27/07/2025 16:30

I am not an idiot, and saying that is plain rude!

mathanxiety · 27/07/2025 16:36

Christwosheds · 26/07/2025 14:35

Darkest before dawn is pretty self explanatory. The darkest part of night is the small hours before dawn.
Teaching your grandmother to suck eggs - raw eggs were commonly eaten, particularly by older people as they are soft, so something Grandmothers would be adept at doing.

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Agree, and despite the darkest hour perhaps being around 1am, the metaphor refers to despair when cause for hope might be just around the corner.

mydogisthebest · 27/07/2025 16:43

Steelworks · 27/07/2025 16:30

I am not an idiot, and saying that is plain rude!

You are an idiot if you think "thing" is correct.

Steelworks · 27/07/2025 16:45

mydogisthebest · 27/07/2025 16:43

You are an idiot if you think "thing" is correct.

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Again, rude (and wrong)

Original poster

soupyspoon · 27/07/2025 16:48

mathanxiety · 27/07/2025 16:28

I accept those examples.

But "I need a think" isn't the same.

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It is the same.

Are you going to wear those awful shoes?

I need a think about that.

OP posts:

Pinty · 27/07/2025 16:57

Steelworks · 27/07/2025 15:42

Why not? To me, ‘thing’ makes sense, as ‘a thing’ is an object, so you’re saying you’ve got another ‘object’ coming soon. To me, ‘think’ doesn’t make sense, and should it actually be thought, not think. Why gave you got another think/ thought coming soon?

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If you think that, then think again. It makes perfect sense
It means have another think. Think about it more.
Thought is in the past.
How can there be another thing coming when no thing has been mentioned at all? Another think refers to the first think in the sentence.
The phrase means the person is thinking wrongly.
If you think you are going out at midnight you have another think coming?
If you think you are going to pass your exams without revising you have another think coming
If you think I am going to give you £100 you have another think omg.
I don't know how the phrase can make sense if thing is used.

mydogisthebest · 27/07/2025 17:01

Steelworks · 27/07/2025 16:45

Again, rude (and wrong)

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Not rude and certainly not wrong. No way is it thing. Makes no sense whatsoever and only an idiot would think it does,

maudelovesharold · 27/07/2025 17:06

LaurieFairyCake · 26/07/2025 13:35

It’s both.

The original is ‘thing’ and the only one I use as I’ve thought people who used think we’re just hard of hearing.

The original isn’t thing’! It’s always been ‘think’, as in ‘If you think I’m going to pick you up from the party, you can think again’, aka ‘you’ve got another think coming’!

‘Thing’ is as correct as ‘should of/would of/could of’, which also seem to have gained traction, but doesn’t make them right!

edited for typo!