Another think coming

[cimorene]

Listen, people.

It's not "If you think ___, you've got another thing coming". It's "If you think __, you've got another think coming." Get it? See how that works? The word "think" appears in both places! As if to suggest that the approaching think is going to replace the previous think which was in error! See how it even (gasp!) makes sense that way, whereas a "thing" coming in that context is so meaningless as to be completely baffling? [*]

Comments

[achiasa.livejournal.com]

Ah, it's actually also a noun, as in 'to have a think'. I wouldn't be surprised if that's a more idiosyncratically English usage, though.

[jain]

That's why I said "properly speaking." :-) You're right that the word's used colloquially as a noun, but Webster's New Collegiate (and no doubt other dictionaries, as well, though that's the one sitting on my shelf) only recognizes the word as a verb.

[achiasa.livejournal.com]

Which would be why I mentioned it as an English usage, actually, as I checked the OED (http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/think?view=uk) before posting. :)) It's definitely more colloquial (for some reason it strikes me as sounding rather northern, somehow) than it is RP, though.

...sorry, Cim. *shuts up*

[cimness.livejournal.com]

No, you're right, good point. I mean, I'm well aware of the use as a noun, but I still tended to assume the colloquial ring to the phrase was part of the point when it arose, as one of the pages I found when I was googling the phrase suggested. I can hear it in a classic gangster movie accent, for example. The fact that it's well-known in Britain, America and Australia could be due to movies and so on, or it could mean the phrase predates the early-20th century print references the etymologists mentioned in that link up above.

[jain]

Ah, I see what you mean now. I'd originally read "English" as "English language," rather than as "British English." My mistake.