"another thing coming"

Paul A Johnston, Jr. paul.johnston at WMICH.EDU
Sat May 31 16:09:15 UTC 2008 

Unless you're from Long-g Island, or the West Midlands of England, or a member of various groups whose first language is not English, there IS no "g" in thing.  It ends in an eng, which we';ve been designating "N".  For me, seen's vowel  does NOT equal the vowel in sin, sing, sink, but the last three equal each other, and I'm from  the Northeast, too, as I've said before.  I have absolutely NO allophony there, though I do not dispute that it exists in other dialects.  My students at Western Michigan have slight raising in sing, sink, but not enough to equal their vowel in seen.  You gotta go south of here for that, probably south of the North/Midland line in Indiana.

Yours,
Paul Johnston

----- Original Message -----
From: Tom Zurinskas <truespel at HOTMAIL.COM>
Date: Saturday, May 31, 2008 8:15 am
Subject: Re: "another thing coming"

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------
> ------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Tom Zurinskas <truespel at HOTMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "another thing coming"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------
> ------------
>
> Yep.  The same vowel (long e) is in "seen" and "thing".  Say
> "seen, sin, sink" a few times, or play them on m-w.com.  Which
> vowel sounds different.  Basically, "seen" and "sink" are close,
> and "sin" is the different one.  "Sin" has the short i, and the
> others the long e as spoken even though the notation in m-w.com
> shows short i.  Give us some voice files of how you say it.
>
> Ricky Ricardo said "thin" for "thing".  He dropped the g.  It's
> difficult for me also to say the "g" after saying "thin", but not
> after saying long e ~ee.  So maybe over time the short i changed
> to long e to make it easier to say.  This is happening to a lot of
> words.  For instance "will" for "we'll", which is going the
> opposite direction, short i replacing long e.
>
> Tom Zurinskas, USA - CT20, TN3, NJ33, FL5+
> See truespel.com - and the 4 truespel books plus "Occasional
> Poems" at authorhouse.com.
>
>
>
> ----------------------------------------
> > Date: Fri, 30 May 2008 21:33:15 -0400
> > From: hfwstahlke at GMAIL.COM
> > 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:       Herb Stahlke <hfwstahlke at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      Re: "another thing coming"
> > -----------------------------------------------------------------
> --------------
> >
> > If you are actually asserting that the vowels of "thing" and "seen"
> > are the same and that this is the general US pronunciation, one of
> > your statements is factually wrong.
> >
> > Herb
> >
> > On Fri, May 30, 2008 at 7:40 PM, Tom Zurinskas
> <truespel at hotmail.com> wrote:
> > > ---------------------- Information from the mail header -------
> ----------------
> > > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > > Poster:       Tom Zurinskas <truespel at HOTMAIL.COM>
> > > Subject:      Re: "another thing coming"
> > > ---------------------------------------------------------------
> ----------------
> > >
> > > 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 prese=
> > > nt 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 - an=
> > > d 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: Americ=
> > > an Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>> Poster: Laurence
> Horn <laurenc=
> > > e.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=3D=
> > > 20> >Arnez) (I LOVE LUCY)  used to say=3D20> >"thin" for thing?&n=
> > > bsp; We southerners say=3D20> >"nothin'."> > > >bl> > > >> > > Bu=
> > > t when? Do you say "That's another thin"? For=3D20> me
> (admittedly a non-so=
> > > utherner), there's a big=3D20> difference between "nothing"
> (which can be=
> > > =3D20> [n^TIn] or [n^?n]) and "(another) thing" (which=3D20>
> can never be [=
> > > TIn], only [TIN]). ("Another thin"=3D20> can only be a request
> for a mint o=
> > > r some such.)> Is it different for (some) southerners?=3D20>
> (Non-native sp=
> > > eakers like Desi are another=3D20> thin(g) completely.)> > LH>
> > > > >--- O=
> > > n 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=3D20>
> >header ----=
> > > -------------------> >Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-
> L at LISTSERV.U=> > GA.EDU>> >Poster: LanDi Liu
> <strangeguitars at GMAIL.COM>> >Subject: =
> > > Re: "another thing coming"> >----------------------------------
> ------------=
> > > -----------------------------=3D> ----> >> >FWIW, I have heard
> some young s=
> > > peakers from Utah pronounce "ng" as> >[=3DA9=3DD8g] (or
> [=3DA9=3DD8g?], 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=
> > > =3D> :> >> ---------------------- Information from the mail
> header> >---=
> > > --------------------> >> Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-
> L at LIST=> > SERV.UGA.EDU>> >> Poster: Mark Mandel
> <thnidu at GMAIL.COM>> >>=
> > >  Subject: Re: "another thing coming"> >>> >--------------------
> ---------=
> > > ----------------------------------------------=3D> ----> >>>
> >> On Tu=
> > > e, May 27, 2008 at 12:39 PM, <ROSESKES at aol.com> wrote:> >>> I d=
> > > id what you said, and understand what you meant. However,
> when=3D> I> >say>=
> > >  >>> "think coming" and "thing coming", they always> >sound
> different=> >  to me. I can> >>> imagine perhaps once hearing
> "thing coming" and th=
> > > inking> >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=3D> p.> >I'm> >>> positive
> that w=
> > > hat 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 yo=
> > > u> >> 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> >&g=
> > > t; coming". That is presumably how the "thing coming" version>
> >got> >> =
> > > started: with the speaker meaning and saying "think coming",
> and> >the> >&g=
> > > t; hearer hearing it as "thing coming".> >>> >> Regards,> >> m
> a m=
> > >> >>> >> -------------------------------------------------------
> -----=
> > >> >> The American Dialect Society -
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> > > ;> >> >> >> >--> >Randy Alexander> >Jilin City, China> >My
> Manchu studies b=
> > > log:> >http://www.bjshengr.com/manchu> >> >--------------------
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