"Another think coming" - What Price victory

[isevery]

In the quest "What price victory" from the Ul'dah Hildibrand series, Ultros says; ...got another think coming!"
I would have thought this should be "another thing coming"

Edit: upon some googling it appears I am mistaken and that another think coming is similarly, if not more accepted!

[Stepjam]

Seems to be a difference between american english and british english. I only ever heard "you got another thing coming", but then I read a forum conversation with british people using the other phrase and talking about the difference between the two.

[Breakbeat]

This phrase is an eggcorn.

Indeed, it exists mainly because Americans don't use 'think' as a noun, e.g., "I'm going to go have a think," like Brits do. So, here in America 'another thing coming' sprouted up because we don't make immediate sense of "having a think." We heard that and assumed, way back in the day, that the person was saying "thing" instead of "think," and it stuck.

Judas Priest's 1982 international mega-hit "Another Thing Comin'" didn't help the situation at all, though people had already been saying "another thing coming" for about 60 or 70 years before that song came out. Ironically, Judas Priest are British. Go figure.

See also: "I can't be asked," which is another common eggcorn. Brits often say "can't be assed," (to do something) as slang in the same situation both Brits and Americans might say "I can't be bothered," (to do something). But being "assed" isn't something we Americans make any sense of; we simply don't use that word in any context. When spoken by a Brit in received pronunciation ("standard British English"), we Americans hear "ahst" when "assed" (or a non-rhotic "arsed") is being spoken. That is very easy to confuse with a Brit speaking RP saying "asked," which with a very soft K also sounds like "ahst" to American ears. Easy confusion, hence why Americans sometimes say, "I can't be asked."

It kinda makes logical sense, in a backwards way. Like, I have so little interest in doing this thing that I cannot even be asked to do it. Makes some kind of sense. Kinda. Sorta.

A bit more irony, sometimes even Brits will say "cant be asked," which is quite interesting to me. The eggcorn we created actually bounced back to them, so much so that some of their people picked up the erroneous phrase. Perhaps this was the case with Judas Priest as well? Maybe (though I think "Another Think Comin'" is just kind of a silly lyric, LOL.) Gonna have a think on that.

(Yes I am an armchair linguistics nerd LOL).

Some other fun ones just pulled from that Wikipedia article:

"ex-patriot" for "expatriate"
"for all intensive purposes" for "for all intents and purposes"
"free reign" for "free rein"
"old-timers' disease" for "Alzheimer's disease"
"preying mantis" for "praying mantis"
"with baited breath" for "with bated breath"
"the feeble position" for "the foetal position"
"chomping at the bit" for "champing at the bit"
"real trooper" for "real trouper"

[Iscah]

I think another thing (word choice unintentional) with the think/thing replacement is that the repeated hard K sound in "think coming" is slightly difficult to pronounce, so softening it to a G makes it easier to say while still retaining close to the same impression.

Some other fun ones just pulled from that Wikipedia article:

"ex-patriot" for "expatriate"
"for all intensive purposes" for "for all intents and purposes"
"free reign" for "free rein"
"old-timers' disease" for "Alzheimer's disease"
"preying mantis" for "praying mantis"
"with baited breath" for "with bated breath"
"the feeble position" for "the foetal position"
"chomping at the bit" for "champing at the bit"
"real trooper" for "real trouper"

Most of those make my inner proofreader curl up in a not-feeble position, but "old-timers' disease" is hilarious.

I'll throw in another bad one that I've come across even in published books occasionally: formerly versus formally. Particularly glaring since both could appear in the same context – "formerly known as [past title]" vs "formally known as [long-winded title]".

[Shibi]

I've certainly always found the American "thing" version of that phrase to be a bit nonsensical, even if it's use in Australian English is also sadly growing in recent years. "Think" makes more sense.

Demonstrated for clarity in a 1944 newspaper clipping:



"Another think coming" is stating exactly what it is, "he should think about it again".

"formerly known as [past title]" vs "formally known as [long-winded title]".

Now I am wondering if "His Majesty The King, formerly formally addressed as His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales" has a comma between the two homophones or not.