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What is the origin of the phrase “you’ve got another thing/think coming”?

If he thinks I'm going out with him, does he have another think or thing coming?

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This is a prominent eggcorn, and even native speakers are confused about it. Use whichever you please. – John Lawler Oct 20 '12 at 12:21
This has been discussed here before: here and here. – J.R. Oct 20 '12 at 13:05
@J.R.: Why did you not vote to close as a dup of your second link? That way we'd see the title of the earlier question, which makes it crystal clear it's an exact dup. – FumbleFingers Oct 20 '12 at 13:15

marked as duplicate by Andrew Leach, StoneyB, FumbleFingers, jwpat7, tchrist Oct 20 '12 at 16:02

This question has been asked before and already has an answer. If those answers do not fully address your question, please ask a new question.

3 Answers

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I have only ever heard "another thing coming" - I'm in the US if that makes a difference. But, I looked it up, and it turns out "think" is actually the correct version, derived from the full expression, "If that's what you think, you've got another think coming." This source pretty accurately describes my experience with the phrase - "You've got another thing coming" is much more common, and many people have never heard the correct "another think coming" before.

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Another think is probably more correct. This Ngram shows another think predating another thing.

Wiktionary has a full entry for another think, but lists another thing as only an alternative form

The confusion (even amongst native speakers) is from the final /k/ of 'think' being unreleased (or palatalised according to some), because the required series of two /k/ sounds is very difficult to articulate. The same thing occurs with 'pink cadillac'.

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In saying think coming, the ng sound is shorter than in thing coming, and there's a gap. At least, it is when I say it. I don't put two /k/s in though. I don't know how to represent that pronunciation in IPA. – Andrew Leach Oct 20 '12 at 15:23
@AndrewLeach Glottal stop – Mr Lister Oct 21 '12 at 6:44
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I've only ever known it as another think coming. The OED records another thing coming, but as a 'misapprehension'.

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Yes. The eggcorn is in over-correcting think into thing. Think is ungrammatical, but thing makes no sense at all. – Andrew Leach Oct 20 '12 at 12:56
You've got to be kiddink! I always thought "another thing" was the correct one and "think" was the eggcorn. Oh well. – Mr Lister Oct 20 '12 at 13:19
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@Andrew Leach: It isn’t ungrammatical. Think has been in colloquial use as a noun with various meanings since 1835. To have another think coming dates from 1898. – Barrie England Oct 20 '12 at 14:48

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