"another thing coming"

[Tom Zurinskas]

It's ~nuthhin but it's ~thheeng as pronounced in US as spelled in truespel.  Where ~thh is the unvoiced "th".  Ricky Ricardo is being mislead by present phonetics into thinking that the "i" in "thing" is short.  It's really ~ee (long e).Tom Zurinskas, USA - CT20, TN3, NJ33, FL5+See truespel.com - and the 4 truespel books plus "Occasional Poems" at authorhouse.com. > Date: Wed, 28 May 2008 15:36:37 -0400> From: laurence.horn at YALE.EDU> Subject: Re: "another thing coming"> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------> Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>> Poster: Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>> Subject: Re: "another thing coming"> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------> > At 11:03 AM -0700 5/28/08, Brenda Lester wrote:> >FWIW: Remember Ricky Ricardo (Desi=20> >Arnez) (I LOVE LUCY)  used to say=20> >"thin" for thing?  We southerners say=20> >"nothin'."> > > >bl> > > >> > > But when? Do you say "That's another thin"? For=20> me (admittedly a non-southerner), there's a big=20> difference between "nothing" (which can be=20> [n^TIn] or [n^?n]) and "(another) thing" (which=20> can never be [TIn], only [TIN]). ("Another thin"=20> can only be a request for a mint or some such.)> Is it different for (some) southerners?=20> (Non-native speakers like Desi are another=20> thin(g) completely.)> > LH> > > > >--- On Wed, 5/28/08, LanDi Liu <strangeguitars at GMAIL.COM> wrote:> >> >From: LanDi Liu <strangeguitars at GMAIL.COM>> >Subject: Re: "another thing coming"> >To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> >Date: Wednesday, May 28, 2008, 1:14 AM> >> >---------------------- Information from the mail=20> >header -----------------------> >Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>> >Poster: LanDi Liu <strangeguitars at GMAIL.COM>> >Subject: Re: "another thing coming"> >---------------------------------------------------------------------------=> ----> >> >FWIW, I have heard some young speakers from Utah pronounce "ng" as> >[=A9=D8g] (or [=A9=D8g?], and they were even aware of it and took it to be> >"correct".> >> >Randy> >> >On Wed, May 28, 2008 at 1:18 AM, Mark Mandel <thnidu at gmail.com> wrote=> :> >> ---------------------- Information from the mail header> >-----------------------> >> Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>> >> Poster: Mark Mandel <thnidu at GMAIL.COM>> >> Subject: Re: "another thing coming"> >>> >---------------------------------------------------------------------------=> ----> >>> >> On Tue, May 27, 2008 at 12:39 PM, <ROSESKES at aol.com> wrote:> >>> I did what you said, and understand what you meant. However, when=> I> >say> >>> "think coming" and "thing coming", they always> >sound different to me. I can> >>> imagine perhaps once hearing "thing coming" and thinking> >I'm hearing "think> >>> coming," but not repeatedly thru'out my entire life.> >It's a common> >>> expression around here, and was even more so while I was growing u=> p.> >I'm> >>> positive that what people around me have always said is,> >"You've got another> >>> think coming." Things may have been different in 1919; or (which> >I think is> >>> more likely) the newspaper may have gotten it wrong.> >>> >> I agree, they are distinguishable. I slipped up and didn't say for you> >> in layman's language what I said to Larry in technical terms. In> >> "think coming" the first syllable is shorter, and there's a> >longer> >> period of silence or near-silence before the beginning of the vowel in> >> "com-". But the distinction is fairly subtle and may get lost in> >> hurried speech or noisy environments or other less-than-ideal> >> conditions, with the result that the grammatically unusual "another> >> think coming" is heard as the grammatically ordinary "another> >thing> >> coming". That is presumably how the "thing coming" version> >got> >> started: with the speaker meaning and saying "think coming", and> >the> >> hearer hearing it as "thing coming".> >>> >> Regards,> >> m a m> >>> >> ------------------------------------------------------------> >> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org> >>> >> >> >> >--> >Randy Alexander> >Jilin City, China> >My Manchu studies blog:> >http://www.bjshengr.com/manchu> >> >------------------------------------------------------------> >The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org> >------------------------------------------------------------> >The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org> > ------------------------------------------------------------> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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