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another-thing-or-think-coming

Another Thing or Think Coming

another thing vs think t-shirt

Other than the Oxford comma, no language topic gets meme going faster than the debate over whether the phrase should be “You’ve got another thing coming” or “You’ve got another think coming.”

An early example occurred in November 2011, when one nonny claimed they “automatically judge” people who write “another thing coming.” The first reply was from a nonny who stated they similarly judged people who write “another think coming.” This kicked off a long, though not especially heated debate.

Someone therein linked to a 2007 Language Log post noting that the “thing” variant has been in circulation since 1919, the “think” one since 1937. (A subsequent LL post dates the latter to at least the late 1890s.) Both are, for all intents and purposes, acceptable. However, this has never stopped meme from wanking about them. Another blowup over the issue occurred in July 2012 and was significantly nastier, involving regionalism and classism wank, as well as an academic anon throwing their credentials around.

The subject came up again in May 2013 and December 2013, but nonnies were considerably more chill about it in both threads. In LJ Post #317 (April 2014), the topic came up twice; the first time was fairly mellow, but the second involved epithets such as //”illiterate halfwits”// and //”pretentious twit.”//

In DW Post #3 (also April 2014), there was a mention of the phrase in relation to SPN fanfic, as well as a poll on which variant nonnies preferred. The OP interpreted the results to imply that regional influences were less relevant than parental education levels, which inspired more wank. This thread also featured a blatant troll calling for the sterilization of people who say “another thing coming.”

In early November 2014, the debate resurfaced within a wank about a controversal Nicky Minaj video. About three weeks later, a mod stated that although there’s no rule against it, they froze the last instance of “thing” vs. “think” wank they saw because “It just annoys me that much.

Finally, in a January 2015 thread titled “Hills You Will Die On,” the topic garnered nearly two dozen comments before sunnymodffa announced,

After multiple requests from nonnies, I promised to kill this boring-ass, endless wank the next time I saw it begin.

That time is now.

another-thing-or-think-coming.txt · Last modified: 2021/08/31 13:48 by RedDeliciousApples