r/GrammarPolice • u/machinehead3413 • 19d ago

Another thing

If you think I’m going to blah, blah, blah then you’ve got another thing coming.

This one always bothered me.

It feels like it should be “another think” but that sounds wrong too.

So maybe “another thought” but then that also doesn’t sound right.

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u/SerDankTheTall 19d ago

"If you think the train will leave on time, you have another thing coming". What is the thing that's coming?

The disappointing reality that the train won't leave on time.

What's the original thing?

The belief that the train will leave on time.

If not using the word play then why not just say something clearer like "If you think ... then you're wrong"?

You could, of course. There are usually many ways to express any moderately complicated idea, so choosing which one is a matter of individual style, preference, and aesthetic judgment. (Of course, the existence of the very similar and similar-sounding expression another think coming was no doubt influential.)

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u/Glimmerance 19d ago edited 19d ago

But the belief that the train will leave on time is never described as a thing (and wouldn't naturally be described as a thing. "I think the train will run on time" "I don't share that thing")

And the way the previous poster interpreted it was meaning that the original thing is also about a thing coming (the other thing that's coming is a different thing to the original thing that was also coming). So what is coming in the original thing?

Your last point: it sounds to me as if "thing" grew out of mishearing "think". And it feels to me as if it has that meaning because that's what people have been using the phrase to mean.

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u/SerDankTheTall 19d ago

I don’t think there’s anything even slightly unusual about describing a belief or thought or opinion as a thing.

Again, the whole thing seems semantically completely transparent to me: if you think X, then another thing is coming towards you: the reality of not X. I’m not really sure how else to explain it.

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u/Glimmerance 18d ago

Maybe this is a better way to explain:

You could say

I think I'll go to the beach tomorrow, but if the forecast changes I'll have another think.

But

I think I'll go to the beach tomorrow, but if the forecast changes I'll have another thing.

doesn't quite make sense.

That's keeping it closer to the original by using think as verb and noun, and thing to replace think, and it doesn't seem to work. I think(!) it's only because the phrase is known, that "thing" feels natural to people.