Words or phrases that annoy you

missbiggles1

Di wrote: »

'if you think youre getting away with it, youve another think coming'.

thats why it is correct. i think.

sorry to barge in.

Barge in all you like - you're obviously right.:)

Georgiegirl256

I have never heard it described as 'think'. Anytime I've ever heard anyone say that phrase, they've said 'thing'. Think doesn't sound correct and it doesn't make sense.

Flyonthewall

missbiggles1 wrote: »

Saying a "think" rather than a thought is a just a playful way of putting it. What you're actually saying is "you need to think again", so "another thing" coming is just meaningless - what "thing" are you talking about?

Used in context,

Son - "I think I'll stay in bed for the day"
Mum "You've got another think coming - get up!"

What would "You've got another thing coming" mean in that context.?

Fair enough, but playful doesn't mean grammatically correct.

The "thing" is that context would be the thought (which would be the same as you mean it for think. i.e. oh, I'm not staying in bed all day) and/or the action/consequence following that (i.e. his Mum saying "get up!" and/or him being dragged out of bed).

Gloomendoom

Georgiegirl256 wrote: »

I have never heard it described as 'think'. Anytime I've ever heard anyone say that phrase, they've said 'thing'. Think doesn't sound correct and it doesn't make sense.

I'm the exact opposite. I've never heard anybody say thing.

Thing doesn't sound correct, nor does it make sense.

This source acknowledges the alternative use of "thing" but suggests that it is the result of "think" being misheard.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/have_another_think_coming

Flyonthewall

Gloomendoom wrote: »

I'm the exact opposite. I've never heard anybody say thing.

Thing doesn't sound correct, nor does it make sense.

This source acknowledges the alternative use of "thing" but suggests that it is the result of "think" being misheard.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/have_another_think_coming

Thing does make sense, as I've written above. It's also grammatically correct unlike think.

Perhaps think seems the only right word as it's what you're used to, but it confuses me why people can't understand the use of thing when thing is simply being used in place of what you mean when you say think (in other words, both think and thing are the thought). The word may be different but it means exactly the same.

Thing could also be an action/reaction that follows so just expanding slightly, I suppose you could say, on a thought. In some cases that would be a better fit as what's coming isn't that you need to rethink things but that something is about to happen that isn't what you expected.

Torry_Quine

Flyonthewall wrote: »

Thing does make sense, as I've written above. It's also grammatically correct unlike think.

Perhaps think seems the only right word as it's what you're used to, but it confuses me why people can't understand the use of thing when thing is simply being used in place of what you mean when you say think (in other words, both think and thing are the thought). The word may be different but it means exactly the same.

Thing could also be an action/reaction that follows so just expanding slightly, I suppose you could say, on a thought. In some cases that would be a better fit as what's coming isn't that you need to rethink things but that something is about to happen that isn't what you expected.

Really. To use the example of Miss Biggles., what would it mean if thing were used instead of think.

missbiggles1

Flyonthewall wrote: »

Thing does make sense, as I've written above. It's also grammatically correct unlike think.

Perhaps think seems the only right word as it's what you're used to, but it confuses me why people can't understand the use of thing when thing is simply being used in place of what you mean when you say think (in other words, both think and thing are the thought). The word may be different but it means exactly the same.

Thing could also be an action/reaction that follows so just expanding slightly, I suppose you could say, on a thought. In some cases that would be a better fit as what's coming isn't that you need to rethink things but that something is about to happen that isn't what you expected.

Of course "think" isn't grammatically correct but it's consistent with the expression "Have a think about it". (Please don't say you think the expression is "Have a thing about it".)

Richard53

Anyone over the age of 6 who uses the word 'scrummy'.


Especially if they are an advertising copywriter.


Also, people who use 'random' to mean strange or unusual.


"I nearly hit a cow on the road today."
"Wow, that's really random."

Pollycat

I'm another in the camp of 'think', not 'thing':

Another think coming

Another think coming is the original form of the colloquial phrase aimed at someone who has a mistaken view. It comes from the old comical expression, If that’s what you think, you’ve got another think coming.
Because think in the second part of the expression is (intentionally) ungrammatical, some people hear another thing coming and repeat it as such. Plus, another thing coming usually makes literal sense, so it’s now more common than another think coming.
The exact origins of another think coming are mysterious, but it appears to be an Americanism, and it does predate another thing coming in the sense expressing disagreement. It goes back at least a century. Here are a few old examples:

Having elected him republicans think they have some voice in the distribution of the spoils and there is where they have another think coming to them. URL="http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=XnonAAAAIBAJ&sjid=VgQGAAAAIBAJ&pg=4834,3690626&dq=another-think-coming&hl=en"]The Daily Argus (1897)[/URL
Those who thought taxes high in the past will have another think coming in the future. URL="http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=w7EnAAAAIBAJ&sjid=2wQGAAAAIBAJ&pg=4907,4315390&dq=another-think-coming&hl=en"]Clinton Mirror (1907)[/URL
If this Good Will Campaign is not a close race then you have another think coming. URL="http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=YLpZAAAAIBAJ&sjid=HUoNAAAAIBAJ&pg=1831,2883849&dq=another-think-coming&hl=en"]Steuben Farmers’ Advocate (1925)[/URL

Interesting link:
http://www.theguardian.com/media/mind-your-language/2014/nov/18/mind-your-language-another-think

You can see how it works:

1 You think something.
2 You are wrong, or someone thinks you are.
3 You have another think coming.
I know language isn’t always logical: if it were, “let’s see if we can get this show on the road” would not mean exactly the same as “let’s see if we can’t get this show on the road”. But surely to think something, and then think again, is the only interpretation of “to have another think coming” that makes any sense – it’s roughly equivalent to having second thoughts about something. To think something and then “have another thing coming”, by contrast, makes no sense at all other than as a mishearing of “think” as “thing”.

The OED agrees with me about this, saying of “to have another thing coming”: “arising from misapprehension of ‘to have another think coming’.” Of the examples quoted my favourite is from Del Boy in a 1999 episode of Only Fools and Horses: “If you think I’m staying in a lead-lined Nissen hut with you and Grandad and a chemical bloody khazi you’ve got another thing coming.”

The Grammarist blog agrees that “another think coming” was the original expression, arising in the US, but says “another thing coming” is now more common; more contentiously, it argues that this version of the phrase “usually makes literal sense”, which I don’t get at all. I do agree with this comment below the line: “‘Another think coming’ seems a rather jocular, witty way to say someone is mistaken. ‘Another thing coming’ usually suggests to me that the author desires the ‘other thing’ coming to be a fist in an idiot’s face.”

So even if I’m outnumbered, I am sticking with “think”. But whichever version you prefer – and in spoken English they sound much the same – the phrase has, in the century or so of its existence, lent itself to some colourful and evocative language:

So - if you think 'thing' is right, you have another think coming.

pendragon_arther

No problem instead of you're welcome annoys me. There wasn't a problem in the first place and if there was it wasn't my problem.