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

[Amy West]

I read the "another thing" as [concrete experience] in the phrase.

I'm intrigued by it being attested in Syracuse: we spent 7 years in
Buffalo, during formative years.

But, I also have a tin ear, and it could simply come from mishearing
one velar for another, and then rationalizing it with the above
gloss. But again, you'd think (har, har) that parallelism would  lead
me (and other speakers) to realize it should be /k/ not /g/.

I've come to terms with it being part of my idiolect.

---Amy West


>Amy West almost says this, but still has the antecedent verb as mental:
>>
>>  >"if you think you're going to play with my models, you've got
>>  >another thing coming".
>
>Note also that the earliest citation found so far for the "thing"
>version, from 1919, also fits the "If you think..." frame:
>
>-----
>1919 Syracuse (N.Y.) Herald 12 Aug. 8/3 If you think the life of a
>movie star is all sunshine and flowers you've got another thing
>coming.
>-----
>
>--Ben Zimmer

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