As our language continues to "evolve"...

[avevale_intelligencer]

I notice that the phrase "to home in," common when I was a youngster, is now being misreplaced with increasing frequency by the meaningless phrase "to hone in," presumably from some idea about locating a place or a person being akin to sharpening. I expect that, as with most of these changes, nobody has any idea that it hasn't always been like that, and certainly nobody cares.

I look forward with a certain glum fascination to the first reference to "honing pigeons."

Comments

Re: I don't like these either, but...

[keristor.livejournal.com]

And I thought 'acorn' was because it doesn't have a horn, or point (it's pointless)[1]. (Actually, that derivation came as a result of thinking about Anne McCaffrey's book 'Acorna', in which the girl is so called because she /has/ a horn which is totally wrong. Not, IMO, one her best stories...)

[1] Except that it does have a point...