The ADS-L had a lengthy discussion of this expression (http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?S2=ADS-L&q=another+think+coming&0=S&s=&f=&a=&b=).  The earliest citation of "another think coming" goes back to 1919 and is identified as an Americanism corresponding to the British "another guess coming."  The "thing" version doesn't appear till later but seems now to have become the more common of the two.  There's also a discussion of origins of the phrase at http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/16/messages/198.html.  

Your conclusions make a lot of sense.

Herb

-----Original Message-----
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of R. Michael Medley (ck)
Sent: Friday, September 03, 2010 8:55 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: think/thing

I apologize for not thinking clearly about the /ng/ (the velar nasal) vs /k/ (unvoiced velar stop) contrast in "thing" vs. "think."

I still think it is implausible that this error appears so many times in a Google search because people have intentionally have chosen to use "think."  This has almost nothing to do with semantics--but with the nerve impulses that are sent to our fingers almost automatically without our thinking about it.  In fact, it is a phenomenon that I would guess more often occurs in writing than in speaking, and therefore involves our knowledge of grapho-phonemic correspondences more than purely phonological issues.


Even in your example (below) a psycholinguistic explanation might be that the appearance of "think" in the conditional clause is reduplicated in the main clause--mainly for phonological processing reasons, despite the shift in category.

"If you think that, you've got another think coming," the nominal use of "think" is set up by the verb of the conditional and contributes to what must have originally been a witty expression.

All in all, one of the conclusions that I draw from my experience with such errors and my understanding of them as psycholinguistic phenomena, is that I should loosen up a little bit when I run across such errors in students' papers.  If such errors are rampant, then I need to consider one of two possibilities: (a) this student may have a learning disability of some kind or (b) I need to teach proof-reading techniques, enforce practice of such techniques, and give some incentives for students to proof-read carefully before submitting papers.


R. Michael Medley, Ph.D.
Professor of English
Eastern Mennonite University
1200 Park Road   Harrisonburg, VA 22802
Ph: 540-432-4051 Fax: 540-432-4444
************************************
"Understanding and shared meaning, when it occurs, is a small miracle, brought about by the leap of faith that we call 'communication across cultures.'"  --Claire Kramsch

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