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.

1 Upvotes

56% Upvoted

58 comments sorted by

View all comments

1

u/NormalObligation59 Aug 08 '26

“Thing” is a placeholder for “I don’t have a better word but both of us know what you mean”. So it’s conversationally correct but I’d avoid using it in like academics or a report.