Archive: Arts & Entertainment

SMART TALK

by Dr. Parley Speake

HONE IN: At the Center for English as a First Language, we hear this from patients a lot. The same patients also often say, "That's the difference between she and I" (instead of the correct between her and me), but we haven't figured out the connection.

We do understand why the hone in error occurs: To hone means to put a razor edge on an already sharp blade, and when you hone in on something, maybe you sharpen your focus.

But no, it doesn't work that way. The term is home in, as in aiming for home. Think of a homing pigeon, first circling and circling to get its bearings and sense of direction. Then it gets a feeling for the direction of home, and it homes in on where it was raised.

So to sound as if English were your first language, say home in.


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