Letters August 6, 2001 Issue

YOUR LETTERS

with contributions from Bruce Vernon Bradley, Charlotte Miller, Randall Bauer, Camilla Hinchman

Greetings—and thanks for all you do! My wife and I dig right into each Sentinel when it arrives, and we love the healing messages and inspiration. But I think that the wonderfully clear article by Barbara DeNisi [June 18] is misnamed. Don't you mean to say "home in on"? To "hone" is to sharpen. To "home in" on a signal is to "follow" it, as a pilot homes in on a destination or turning point, thanks to his or her direction finder or ADF—automatic direction finder, as a missile might home in on a target. As you say in the table of contents, the article is about "choosing what you focus on." So, home in on the healing thought!

Bruce Vernon Bradley
Lt. Col. Usaf (Ret.) Grover, Missouri

The debate over "homing" and "honing" continues. Perhaps either term could have been used in this case. To "hone" is to "sharpen"—sharpen the focus of an idea—to "make clearer." ("Hone" is usually used in the vernacular.) Hats off to our readers who are good backup readers when it comes to hashing out this kind of usage question.

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