"thing/think" [was: on the eggcorn beat]

[Amy West]

Same here. And that "thing" could be verbal persuasion, physical
aggression/intimidation (big brother to little sister: "if you think
you're going to play with my models, you've got another thing
coming"), unpleasant/unwanted results, etc. The lack of parallelism
in the "think...thing" construction really never struck me until
there was a poll about "another thing/think" in the M-W office, and
that's when I became aware of the preference for "another think." So,
I was actually much older than you, JL, when I was clued in.

---Amy West

>Date:    Wed, 30 Apr 2008 09:58:53 -0700
>From:    Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
>Subject: Re: "thing/think" [was: on the eggcorn beat]
>
>I grew to the age of about eighteen believing that "another _thing_
>coming" was inexplicably the correct idiom.
>
>   My personal explanation, IIRC, was that the "thing" was whatever
>would change your mind.
>
>   JL

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org