This article provides an explanation of an NP construction referred to as that noun thing (TNT) in English. It asserts that it concerns a Langackerian reference point construction, to refer in case speakers have problems to feature the concerned referent. It also demonstrates that speakers systematically use TNT to express a range of Gricean conversational implicatures like speaker disapproval. The TNT presents a good perspective to observe the interaction between conventional meaning in cognitive and construction grammars and classic Gricean pragmatics.