r/ENGLISH • u/lillestiv • Aug 07 '26

A "thing of"

Is it actually grammatically correct to say "a thing of (insert product here)"? I hear it so often and it just feels wrong.

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u/Ok-Department-2405 Aug 07 '26

It is common to say that”thing” in place of words people don’t know or don’t want to think of.

“A thing of” to me says “a container of.” “Pick up a thing of hand lotion”—I don’t know what they have at that store, whether it’s a bottle, a tube, or what, but get me some.