Talk:thing

additional discussion

Some additional discussion of the meaning and context (and capitalisation) of this term's "assembly" sense is here. - -sche (discuss) 07:32, 17 April 2012 (UTC)

See also Talk:Thing. - -sche (discuss) 16:25, 28 July 2018 (UTC)

euphemism

Isn't it a euphemistic term for "sex"? --Fsojic (talk) 23:59, 26 May 2014 (UTC)

I don't think so, but I think the page may have in sufficient quotes for "10. (slang) A penis." The only quote is: "Oh Gertie it’s true. It’s all true. They’ve got a horrid gash instead of a thrilling thing." Maybe it should be "pull out your thing", "his thing", or "your thing" (with a context). --NoToleranceForIntolerance (talk) 15:52, 7 April 2017 (UTC)

an improper Cantonese translation

was here for 12 years... —suzukaze (t・c) 10:05, 31 January 2017 (UTC)

(Redirected from one's thing)

What meaning applies to one's thing then? --Backinstadiums (talk) 01:03, 2 December 2019 (UTC)

#14: "(informal) That which is favoured; personal preference. (Used in possessive constructions.)" Equinox ◑ 01:07, 2 December 2019 (UTC)

littlest thing

With regard to the usage note in little, is littlest thing idiomatic? --Backinstadiums (talk) 18:52, 23 May 2020 (UTC)

put things right

Is put things right an idiom? --Backinstadiums (talk) 19:56, 31 July 2020 (UTC)

no such thing

On the contrary, certainly not: You thought I was quitting? No such thing! --Backinstadiums (talk) 10:16, 20 February 2021 (UTC)

Interesting. I wasn't familiar with that idiom. I scrolled through about 10 pages of 19th century google books results for "No such thing", but I couldn't find any instances of this idiom, presumably because the more straightforward use ("there's no such thing as an honest politician") is so much more common. Since it allows more precise search syntax (including punctuation), I tried using the Corpus of Historical American English and searching for "no such thing !" and "no such thing .", and found a number of results that seem to match the "on the contrary" sense. It seems like it's dated or maybe even obsolete. The latest instance I found was from 1982 (the corpus has data from 1810-2009 and is, I believe, balanced to have the same amount of data for each year), but going back to the 19th century it appears fairly frequently. Here's a selection of some of the latest and earliest quotes I found:

• 1982, “Rushes”, in Time Magazine:

  You thought the notion of New York as Fun City died with the Lindsay administration? No such thing. In A Little Sex, Manhattan is still where a coupla crazy kids can get their Wasp jollies […]

• 1959, Paul Goodman, The Empire City:

  Did Lothair imagine that the society of those people (such as it was) existed because of their demented notions and by means of their contradictory institutions? And that these were the essence of their society? No such thing!

• 1940, Mortimer Jerome Adler, “This pre-war generation”, in Harpers:

  At the time those were my sentiments too, but I soon discovered that I could not make common cause with my colleagues. After dinner I reported the conversation I had had with the professor of history, and again I said that I thought the political truth of democracy could be demonstrated. No such thing! Democracy could be saved by force of arms but it could not be proved by weight of reason.

• 1833, Theodore Sedgwick, Crayon Sketches Volume 1:

  Is the merchant happier when, quitting the din and bustle of the city, his ships, his freights, and his speculations he hastens to the enjoyment of rural life, purchases a beautiful villa, and looking around him, says within himself "I am content." Is he so? no such thing! He must still busy himself with the news, the business, and the exchanges; or, let him look at home, every thing is wrong, every thing wants improving […]

• 1823, John Neal, Randolph: A Novel, Volume 1:

  And why? Is it that he is too generous, too like a philanthropist in the former case? Or that he is too wicked in the latter? No such thing. It is an impeachment of his own judgment, against which he braces himself.

I did find some later quotes that had "No such thing." as a standalone sentence, but they were in contexts like "Coincidence? No such thing." where the "No such thing" has the more basic meaning of "[there's] no such thing [as a coincidence]".

It occurs to me that there's a similarity in form and meaning with no such luck, which I'm surprised we don't have an entry for. Colin M (talk) 20:43, 20 February 2021 (UTC)

I went ahead and created no such thing with the quotes above. (And also no such luck). Colin M (talk) 01:20, 23 February 2021 (UTC)

whole thing

A complicated situation; something that causes a dispute. --Backinstadiums (talk) 16:58, 13 April 2021 (UTC)

things [plural] (formal) (followed by an adjective) all that can be described in a particular way

She loves all things Japanese. --Backinstadiums (talk) 08:39, 17 May 2021 (UTC)

wrong thing

(jargon) A design, action, or decision that is clearly incorrect or inappropriate. Often capitalised; always emphasised in speech as if capitalised. The opposite of the Right Thing; more generally, anything that is not the Right Thing. In cases where "the good is the enemy of the best", the merely good - although good - is nevertheless the Wrong Thing. "In C, the default is for module-level declarations to be visible everywhere, rather than just within the module. This is clearly the Wrong Thing." https://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/wrong+thing --Backinstadiums (talk) 19:41, 18 May 2021 (UTC)

the other thing ⇒ an unexpressed alternative

The other thing ⇒ an unexpressed alternative --Backinstadiums (talk) 11:13, 25 June 2021 (UTC)

the thing and the thing is — overlap of senses and overlap with other entries

There are two senses in this entry that I think require the, but there is a separate entry for the thing. Furthermore, one of the examples here includes the phrase "the thing is", but the thing is likewise has its own separate entry. Is this overlap appropriate? If so, perhaps rather than just including those two entries in a list at the end, it would be better to cross-reference them at the applicable senses themselves.

It is not clear whether "A problem, dilemma, or complicating factor." and "The central point; the crux." should be separate senses or not. The former sense looks more distinct if it can indeed refer to one of several problems. However, I have trouble formulating an example that does not contain the. Example: "I would normally have brought wine, but one of the things is that the host was recently in hospital, so I wasn't sure if it would be suitable." So perhaps they should be merged to

"The central point(s); the crux(es); the main problem(s), dilemma(s), or complicating factor(s)."

or similar.

Regarding the dated sense of the thing here, it looks like an ellipsis for the in thing (or the fashionable thing).

—DIV (1.145.13.161 09:06, 31 July 2024 (UTC))