Grammar Guru: “Hone In” or “Home In”? 6 Phrases We’ve Been Mishearing Forever

For all intensive purposes, you nipped that problem in the butt. If that sentence looks fine to you, this month’s Grammar Guru is required reading.

This month, we’re celebrating the return of our beloved Grammar Guru series. You can expect it to be monthly again, with a new author — me, Liza. I am still hoping to have Zoe back one day to spearhead this series, but for now, I’m taking the helm because there are so many grammar topics (peeves?) that need to be discussed!

We first started writing about grammar in 2013. With the rise of AI, auto-correct, and people simply not thinking before they hit the send button, this series is needed!

Today’s episode is dedicated to a delightful category of misused phrases called eggcorns: phrases we mishear, then repeat with total confidence for decades. The name comes from a linguist’s example of someone who spent years writing “egg corn” instead of “acorn.”

These errors make a strange kind of sense, which is exactly why they spread. Spoken aloud, the wrong version sounds nearly identical to the right one. Written down, though, the jig is up.

Let’s look at the six I see (and hear) most often.

INCORRECT: Hone in
CORRECT: Home in

When you zero in on a target, you home in on it, like a homing pigeon finding its way back or a missile homing in on a signal.

“Hone” means to sharpen. You hone a knife, hone a skill, hone your golf swing. You cannot “hone in” on anything, because honing doesn’t involve direction.

Correct Example: After three tastings, we homed in on the perfect wedding cake flavor.
Correct Example: She spent the summer honing her biscuit-making skills.

Fair warning: this mistake is so widespread that some dictionaries have surrendered and now list “hone in” as an accepted variant. To be clear, I have not surrendered.

INCORRECT: Nip it in the butt
CORRECT: Nip it in the bud

This phrase comes from gardening, y’all. When you nip a bud, you remove a flower before it blooms, stopping something small before it grows into something bigger. That’s the whole metaphor: catch the problem early.

Correct Example: I noticed the kids negotiating a later bedtime and nipped it in the bud.

Nipping something in the butt would, presumably, make the problem run faster.

INCORRECT: For all intensive purposes
CORRECT: For all intents and purposes

The real phrase dates back to 16th-century English law (“to all intents, constructions, and purposes”) and means in every practical sense. Said quickly, intents and blurs into intensive, and an eggcorn is born.

But purposes cannot be intensive, no matter how hard they try.

Correct Example: For all intents and purposes, the renovation is finished. We’re just waiting on one light fixture.

INCORRECT: Case and point
CORRECT: Case in point

The correct phrase means “here is a case that proves my point.” The example lives inside your argument, hence in. “Case and point” sounds like two separate items you’re presenting, which isn’t the meaning at all.

Correct Example: Southern hospitality is alive and well. Case in point, my neighbor just left tomatoes on my porch, unprompted.

INCORRECT: Deep-seeded
CORRECT: Deep-seated

I’ll admit this one almost makes more sense the wrong way. A seed planted deep does sound firmly established. But the actual phrase is “deep-seated,” meaning something so firmly positioned (seated) that it cannot easily be moved.

Correct Example: My deep-seated love of college football makes autumn my favorite season.

INCORRECT: Coming down the pipe
CORRECT: Coming down the pike

This one trips up even careful speakers, because down the pipe almost works. We have pipelines, after all, and things do move through pipes. But the real phrase is “coming down the pike,” and pike is short for turnpike. Picture standing along a toll road watching a wagon appear in the distance: whatever is coming down the pike is headed your way, and you can see it approaching.

Correct Example: Big changes are coming down the pike for the neighborhood, including two new restaurants.

If you want a plumbing metaphor, “in the pipeline” is alive and well and perfectly correct. Just don’t let the two merge into a mixed-up hybrid idiom.

An Honorable Mention

“I could care less” remains the reigning champion of misheard phrases, but this series already gave it a full episode years ago, and its status is secure. If you could care less, that means you do care. The phrase is “I couldn’t care less.” Consider this your annual reminder.

The Takeaway

Eggcorns are nothing to be embarrassed about. Most of us learned these phrases by ear, long before we ever saw them written down, and the wrong versions are nearly perfect phonetic impostors. But now you know. And once you see them, you cannot unsee them … especially in other people’s LinkedIn posts.

I’ve homed in on next month’s topic, and it’s a timely one: whose vs who’s, you’re vs your, and so on. I know, it’s not rocket science. But goodness, one would think so while scanning through the comment sections on social media!

Have a phrase you suspect you’ve been mishearing? A grammar issue you hope I cover? Email me at [email protected], and let’s nip it in the bud together.

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