Hone In vs. Home In

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hello, is this Grant?

This is Grant. Who am I talking to?

Hi, this is Gordon. I’m in Bethany, Connecticut.

Hi, Gordon. Welcome to the program.

Hello, Gordon. This is Martha.

Hi, Martha.

Hi.

What’s going on?

I’m calling because I’ve been hearing an interesting phrase in meetings quite frequently, and I’ve heard three different iterations of it, and I was curious about which is the most appropriate or which is the most common one so that I’d be most understood should I use it.

Okay.

So when someone’s in a meeting and they’re describing how they want to focus in really acutely and finely on something, I’ve heard them say, I want to zone in on it or hone in on it or home in on it.

So zone, hone, and home.

So it’s Z-O-N-E, H-O-N-E, or H-O-M-E.

Okay.

And which one do you hear most?

I would have to say I hear zone most.

Really?

Interesting.

Oh, that’s interesting.

And what kind of work is it?

I’m a teacher.

Interesting.

Because of home in, hone in, and zone in, zone in, at least in the written record, is far, far less common than the others.

That’s really interesting.

I wonder if it’s a, were you going to say the same thing I was going to say?

I think I was. A combination of zero in and hone in.

Yeah, that’s what I’m thinking here.

Because that’s the unmentioned one. Zero in on something means to target it.

Yeah, which is far more common than any of those.

And it goes back to World War II and the military use of zero in on, meaning fixing a target accurately.

Wow. But for home and hone, I think we’ve tackled this one before. This is a common confusion, isn’t it?

Mm-Yes, yes. Home in is the original term, like homing pigeons, finding your way home. But hone in makes sense, doesn’t it?

Because we think about sharpening a knife or sharpening a spear or something to a fine point.

Right.

That seems to metaphorically fit, like coming to a point or coming exactly to a place you want to be.

Yeah, so although sticklers will say home in is correct and hone in came later, they’re almost interchangeable now, I think.

Yeah, they pretty much are home and hone.

And the fact that they sound so much like makes them easy to confuse anyway.

Yeah, but I’m really interested to hear that you’ve been hearing zone in on.

Is it only these teachers or are there other people who do this, zone in?

Primarily teachers, actually.

And when they say zone in, do you zone out?

You know, I could be a language curmudgeon, but I’m trying to not be.

Excellent. Thank you.

So I figured I’ll just accept it.

I would rather make friends and enemies, particularly over language.

I do appreciate your pointing this out, Gordon.

I’m going to listen for zone in on it because I haven’t really heard it.

I’m quite sure that we’re going to hear this everywhere now.

Like when you buy a new car and you see it everywhere.

Exactly.

It’s true.

Thanks for your call, Gordon. Really appreciate it.

Thank you very much.

Take care now. Bye-bye.

All right. Bye-bye.

Bye.

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