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Pedants' corner
Original poster

The word 'off' is not synonymous with the word 'from'

45 replies

Twiglett · 30/11/2007 22:11

harrumph

OP posts:
Cam · 30/11/2007 22:12

Nor is it synonymous with the word "have"

double harrumpphh

VeniVidiVickiQV · 30/11/2007 22:13

Isnt it?

He jumped off the building
He jumped from the building

VeniVidiVickiQV · 30/11/2007 22:14

He jumped off from the building

VeniVidiVickiQV · 30/11/2007 22:15

TWiglett threw VVVQV off from the top of the building

DaisyNightingale · 30/11/2007 22:16

pooooh that's one of my biggest bug bears.

I can't listen to Scott Mills as he always talks about "that bloke off of such and such".....ggggrrrrrrrr

And don't get me started on should of, would of etc.....we had a letter home from school saying that my DSs class in Year 1 should of been doing an assembly but it was cancelled.....I mean she's a teacher fgs!

DaisyNightingale · 30/11/2007 22:16

that should have just been oooooh, no "p" required

RoxyNotFoxy · 06/12/2007 15:32

Him off the telly.
Him from the telly.

I prefer the first, since you are trying to be deliberately vulgar, and you might as well say it as it's usually said.

Then there's "out of". A boxer might be "fighting out of Detroit". It just means he comes from there, or trains there. But in the boxing world the phrase doesn't seem out of place, whereas in some other milieu it can sound ludicrous. According to some daft woman on Radio 3, two composers called Schoenberg and Webern were "operating out of Vienna in the early years of the twentieth century" - you know, as if they wore soft hats and long raincoats and rode on the running-boards of old-style motor-cars, brandishing tommy-guns.

OhLittleTownOfBotlehem · 07/12/2007 13:24

Roxy, I agree. I do say 'off the telly' in a jocular way.

Similarly, if I was talking about someone in a band I'd say 'XXX out of XXX'.

Strangely, where I come from this 'off' thing was also used for the inhabitants of a large local council estate where my auntie lived - she wasn't from XXX, but she was off XXX.

TheStepfordChav · 07/12/2007 13:30

F*ck from!!

TheStepfordChav · 07/12/2007 13:31

Sorry, couldn't resist.

'Should of' is one of my bugbears, as is 'try and' insted of 'try to'.

TheStepfordChav · 07/12/2007 13:32

AAGH!! instead

UnquietDad · 07/12/2007 13:35

There is a sliding scale for these things.

"off/from" confusion: sharp slap on wrist.

"off of": period of internment.

"should of": summary execution.

UnquietDad · 07/12/2007 13:36

Roxy - hence Richard "Twice Nightly" Whiteley's autobiography, "Himoff".

UnquietDad · 07/12/2007 13:40

Prepositions with place names are a minefield. There are some in our city where people live "at", some where they live "on" and others where they live "in".

"That Ricky out of Kaiser Chiefs." I've only just started hearing that formulation.

The one which really sets my teeth on edge is the addition of a possessive to names of members of families. "I said to our Kevin"... "I saw your Dawn in town"... etc.

Oh, and getting "our" and "are" mixed up. As in the Oasis song "Round Are Way". Apparently N. Gallagher is dyslexic. (I think it's more likely that he is just thick.)

Iklboo · 07/12/2007 13:46

Once of those comedt shows the other week was talking about "him off of out of that band". DH & I say it every time we hear BIL saying "him out of"

The possessive with names comes from when everybody had somebody with the same name in the family I think (eg everybody had a brother called George, there was a Stan in every family - so they kind of had to differentiate between them ot it would have been "I saw Stan today". "Which Stan"?
But it's kind of hung over to today

Iklboo · 07/12/2007 13:47

Woman in work always said "And I turned round and said to DH abnd then I turned round and said to DD and then I turned round and said to my mum".
Explains why she's so bloody dizzy!

OhLittleTownOfBotlehem · 07/12/2007 13:52

'Our Kevin' is common usage where I'm from. I find it quite endearing.

Every little brother is called 'our kid'. Which is what N. Gallagher calls L. Gallagher, though he probably spells that 'are' too.

EffiePerine · 07/12/2007 13:53

off for from and our X both variations in spoken English, so save your ire for something important...

... like 'should of'

I'm sure noone wants my rant on 'correct' English usage and regional variation and language is power at this time of the afternoon, so back away slowly

OhLittleTownOfBotlehem · 07/12/2007 13:53

I like your theory Iklboo! Had never thought of that before.

OhLittleTownOfBotlehem · 07/12/2007 13:55

Hear hear, Effie. Go on, rant away - I'm sure I'll agree with you.

EffiePerine · 07/12/2007 13:57

There is a difference between written language and oral language as well. 'X off Y' is not appropriate in an essay but may be in informal speech.

OhLittleTownOfBotlehem · 07/12/2007 13:58

Too blinking right.

[told you I'd agree with you ]

EffiePerine · 07/12/2007 14:01

and I suppose you think there is an accepted definition of standard oral english? Hmmmmmmmm

EffiePerine · 07/12/2007 14:05

even when it comes to written English you might want to think about how words and usage change as reflected in additions/changes to the OED over the years...

I'll stop now, honest. But language is important, and English language is hugely rich and interesting partly because of regional and class variations. Unless you want to go back to the days where children were beaten for speaking their own vernacular dialects at school... or if you want us to end up in the same position as French with an academy and an awful attitude to non-standard accents.

UnquietDad · 07/12/2007 14:06

I can honestly say, hand on heart, that my older brother has never, ever referred to me as "our kid."