Re: OT -- "its" vs "it's"

["Dick Margulis" <margulis -at- mail -dot- fiam -dot- net>]

All right, folks (or is that alright, folks <g>), it's/its and their/there/they're have been giving English teachers fits for a hundred years or more. But the new one that's driving me up a tree is "hone in on," which seems to be a conflation of "home in on" and hone (sharpen) one's message. This has gotten to the point that I hear it constantly in speeches by public figures and commentary on NPR, and see it in the Times and other national media. It's new. It's ugly. And I want it to go away. Please make it go away, Mister. Will ya? Huh?

Dick 

Mike <techmail_mike -at- yahoo -dot- com> wrote:

>No need to flame you.  The whole its/it's thing has
>reached ludicrous levels of inappropriate use.  It is
>especially unnerving when a major magazine or
>newspaper uses the wrong form.
>
>The funny(?)thing though is when people look at you
>like you have a problem when you point out their bad
>usage.
>
>Then there's the whole their/they're/there thing.....
>

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