"home" = "sharpen"

[Herb Stahlke]

While I've often heard "hone in on" from my students and on TV, I've
never noticed any anxiety on the part of its users.  On the contrary,
they are surprised when it's pointed out that this is a relatively
recent modification of "home in on," and some users have insisted the
"hone in on" is the more correct of the two.

Herb

On Tue, Apr 10, 2012 at 8:55 PM, Ben Zimmer
<bgzimmer at babel.ling.upenn.edu> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: "home" = "sharpen"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On Tue, Apr 10, 2012 at 8:02 PM, Joel S. Berson wrote:
>>
>> In commenting this evening on Romney's predicted reorientation after
>> Santorum's "suspension" of his campaign, WCVB Boston (channel 5) news
>> put up (and discussed) a slide with four things he was expected to
>> do.  For example, "Raise money."  But one was "Home his message."
>>
>> I leave it to others better equipped than I to develop pertinent puns>
>
> I suppose this is a type of hypercorrection, based on anxieties over
> the propriety of "hone in on."
>
> --bgz
>
> --
> Ben Zimmer
> http://benzimmer.com/
>
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