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Quote:
as a 4th definition on Shorter OED as : sharpen on a whetsone ,sharpen, streamline, focus.
That sound you hear, dear MaxQ, is the sound of standards crashing all around us!
Sorry, WOW, you just shot yourself in the foot by conceding that the dictionary lists "focus" as a defintion of "hone". Then there's the obvious mental link in the "hone in on", with its imagery of sharpening, pointing, etc. I am, however, far too nice to say that your argument is nice.
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Quote:
Whatever happened, the words home and hone have very different meanings and substituting hone for home has completely changed the meaning of the phrase.
What's good about good-bye?
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'Honing Pidgin' One of the best I've seen!  (Though this whole thread is full of good ones!)
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inmoralMy friend just sent me a followup on dissimilation in Spanish with another prefix: "I completely forgot to add the words with the prefix cum- 'with,' which include the pleonastic conmigo 'with me' from cum- + mecum! There are 38 such words [in the Diccionario de la lengua española de la Real Academia Española], such as conmutar 'commute' (a sentence, not commute to work) and conmover 'move to pity.'" (Edit: the things you find via Wikipedia: DRAE online.)
Last edited by zmjezhd; 01/26/07 03:16 PM.
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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Right, sorry, I thought y'all were referring to contemporary Spanish when I made my comment. I don't know that much about Latin-to-Spanish linguistic change.
If you're checking out the DRAE online, take a look at the Diccionario panhispánico de dudas on the same site. It's brilliant for those word questions one never seems to be able to settle.
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Quote:
If you're checking out the DRAE online, take a look at the Diccionario panhispánico de dudas on the same site. It's brilliant for those word questions one never seems to be able to settle.
The Dudes' Panhispanic Dictionary?! I'm in! 
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Um, can I ask a question having to do with the original post?
I've never heard "hone in on" only "home in on" as in to take bearings until you figure out the location of what you are looking for.
Is that what you meant Max?
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In reality, it's not a linguistic shift. It's IGNORANCE dammit.
TEd
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Quote:
In reality, it's not a linguistic shift. It's IGNORANCE dammit.
Surely you mean "damn it"?
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