I hear the expression “you have another thing coming” recently in a movie, with the -g of thing pronounced as a -k sound. I thought it was just the accent of the actor, but then I realised he did indeed mean to say “think” with a -k sound. But I always thought the expression was definitely with “thing” in it. So I looked it up!
And according to Merriam-Webster, both are correct! In both cases, the expression means that the person you are saying it to is wrong and should change their mind. The “think” version is frequently used in British English and has been in use since the early 19th century. Since the middle of that century, it also started being used in America. It’s probably through a misunderstanding in spoken speech that people started using “thing”. So the original is “think”, but “thing” is much more popular in recent years.
Which version do you use?
Happy reading,
Loes M.