Learn English – What does “thing” mean in “this is the thing”

meaning

“THIS IS THE THING ABOUT NICKLEBACK…they get a lot of hate, but they are still very proud of themselves, and they do very well regardless of the hate that they get.”

Does it simply mean the situation of things? or the situation has to be somewhat strange, hard-to-grasp and ironic to qualify for the use of "This is the thing"?

Best Answer

The Oxford Idioms Dictionary for Learners of English, 2nd ed. gives the following definition:

the thing (about/with something) is (spoken)
　used to introduce an important fact, reason, or explanation:

　　○ I know you want to expand the business. The thing is, we haven't got the money to do that.
　　○ I'm really sorry I didn't call you. The thing is, I've been really busy lately.

In my own words, I'd say that this phrase optionally sets a topic of discussion (given with "about topic" or "with topic"), and then it announces to listeners that you're about to say something important about that topic.

Your example is a variation on this idiom:

The thing about Nickelback is, ...
This is the thing about Nickelback.

These two examples mean the same thing. They introduce a topic (Nickelback) and let the listener know that you're about to say something important about that topic.

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