Language Rantypants

[changeling]

I'd like to say a little something about one of my least favourite language quirks out there. Folks, meet "off of". It's a lazy construction, and it doesn't actually mean anything.

You didn't "base my project off of this idea I had". You base it ON an idea. It's like saying that your house is "based off of the ground". It isn't. It's based ON the ground. You don't sit off of a chair. You don't serve your meal off of some plates. The cat did not sit off of the mat. It's ON the chair, ON the plates, ON the mat.

Similarly, you didn't "get this off of some guy I know". You got it FROM some guy.

Prepositions. They are your friend. Don't beat them up and leave them in an alley for dead.

Comments

[youraugustine.livejournal.com]

Heee. Yeah, there's definitely that, although I'd argue even "clean" language is its own dialect - it's just the one a certain authority has decided is Correct. So while I try to keep my dialects definitely separate, I also try to stay aware that there's not reeeeeally a "neutral" as such.

[delirieuse.livejournal.com]

Oh, it definitely is. But when you're mostly writing British stories, the Queen's (or King's) English is the closest thing to neutral there is. ;)