Thursday 10 February 2011

30 years, and I had another think coming

I am currently reading TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD for the first time ever. I'm thirty. I never had to read it for school, so maybe that's how I escaped it so far. Not that escaping it is a good thing. I'm really enjoying the read, and loving Scout's innocent take on everything she sees. I can definitely see what made it a classic. But most importantly by far, I learned something I never knew before:

If you think that, you've got another think coming.

For all of my thirty years, I've said it like this:

If you think that, you've got another thing coming.

I just Googled this today, and found out there's a lively (and far from new) debate on which is correct. Honestly, I got confused the first time I read Harper Lee's use of think. The second time, I was like, Okay, I'm obviously missing something... And it's true. I was!

It makes far more sense for it to be think, not thing. I just find it amusing that for all of my life, I've escaped even hearing it said that way.

And now I am going to have to scour my writing for any instances where I've said thing, and think (no pun intended) about what I'm gonna do with them. :)

P.S. Speaking of reading - check my "Goals" page. I added a "books read in 2011" widget that I got from Goodreads. My new reading goal is 25 books in the year. I think I can do that easily, especially if I keep on with reading the shorter books on my shelves. Hehehe, I know that's kind of cheating. But anyway...5/25 so far! MOCKINGBIRD will be the 6th.

15 comments:

  1. It's "think"! Seriously? Damn.

    I loved MOCKINGBIRD when I read it last year.

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  2. Good gravy, I hate when you find you've been wrong all this time! I always thought it was "up and Adam", not "up and at 'em". Although the second one does make sense...but I didn't hear it that way. ;)

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  3. I never heard it that way either, but I like it so much better. The "thing" version, when you think about it, doesn't really make sense!

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  4. What is your GoodReads link? Here's mine! Samantha's Goodreads I want to read 100 books this year! This week I've read Matched, The Forest of Hands and Teeth, and I'm starting I Am Number Four. I also want to read, and in some cases re-read, the classics – Pride & Prejudice, Jane Eyre, etc!

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  5. Whaaa? No way. It's definitely "thing". As evidenced by the very literary song "You've got another thing coming" by Judas Priest.

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  6. I'm with you. It took a long time to read Mockingbird. How did I graduate without it?

    ~Debbie

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  7. Shayda, when I was googling this I found reference to that Judas Priest song. lol.

    Debbie, I don't know about where you grew up but here in Australia we're probably less likely to have it on a staple reading list. Still, most people I know have probably read it already ;)

    Her highness, I added you - and FYI there is a link to my GoodReads page in my LINKS section above.

    Madeline, I think that's a pretty common mistake people make :)

    nindogs - yeah, I'm loving it. Scout is such a cool little girl. :D I love her indignation.

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  8. I remember loving 'To Kill a Mockingbird' when I read it in school. Maybe I should revisit the book.

    You're doing awesome on your reading goal for the year. Oh, and I added you as a friend on GR. I'm trying to be more active on there. :)

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  9. Cool, we are now GoodReads friends. :)

    I made this year's reading goal pretty easy, because last year I read 21 books (most of them epic fantasy re-reads) and I know this year I can easily top that, and yet I didn't want to bite off way more than I could chew. :P

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  10. Wow, that makes much better sense. Not that I've ever thought about it before.

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  11. I never knew that!

    New follower...

    demitrialunetta.blogspot.com

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  12. I never EVER knew that. You taught me something new today. :)

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  13. You can all thank Harper Lee :D

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  14. Trisha, that's fascinating! The things you discover, eh? I had to real TKAM in high school- loved it then and still do now- but can't say I ever noticed that, and probably would have thought it a typo. Thanks for sharing :)

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  15. Claire - Yeah, I thought it was a typo at first too. The second time I saw it, I was pretty sure it wasn't. hehe

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