home/hone switch

[Douglas G. Wilson]

>Well, considering the 35,700 google hits for "hone in on", only a
>small number of which are "watch your language" sites, I don't think
>we're at the "simply a typo" stage anymore.  My favorite (no, I
>didn't go through all 45K) is this one, from (believe it or not)
>http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/glossary/index.shtml?00696

I wrote to CNN about this when it appeared in a sort of "improve your
English" (!) piece on the CNN Web site back in 2001.

I suggested (not in exactly these words) that they might do better to
present the more standard English first (e.g., "home in"), and reserve the
controversial variants and vulgar errors ("hone in" arguably belongs in one
of these categories) for the advanced course.

No response, of course.

Actively promulgated by the BBC too? Tsk, tsk.

-- Doug Wilson