Headline Grammar

[flapeyre]

They must have had a HUGE truck..

Men face life in prison for Wal-Mart theft in Slidell

-- Francis
I'd like to change the world, but I can't find the source code.

 

[KenCunningham]

They used razor blades to cut the cameras' plastic encasings off of the security devices

It's obviously not just headlines they have trouble with!

Some days are diamonds, some days are rocks - make sure most are the former.

 

[flapeyre]

True enough, Ken. Also makes for a good "stupid thief" story.

Were it not for stupid criminals, there would hardly be any crime at all.

-- Francis
I'd like to change the world, but I can't find the source code.

 

[flapeyre]

According to my handy-dandy iPhone dictionary app, encasing is the gerund of encase. Strictly speaking, the correct word would be encasement.

Personally, I would have just said "package."

-- Francis
I'd like to change the world, but I can't find the source code.

 

[SantaMufasa]

It's obviously not just headlines they have trouble with!

Actually, not quite so obvious...although Francis's suggestion for encasement is well taken, what other specific criticisms have you for the "razor" sentence?

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
[I provide low-cost, remote Database Administration services: www.dasages.com]
“Beware of those that seek to protect you from harm or risk. The cost will be your freedoms and your liberty.”

 

[KenCunningham]

Dave, it wasn't so much the 'encasings' that I was referring to, though I do think it's an ugly word when cases would do equally well. My main objection is the 'off of' when off would do. I think this may have been discussed here before, but I may be wrong.

Some days are diamonds, some days are rocks - make sure most are the former.

 

[SantaMufasa]

Well taken, Ken. When I encounter "off of", I, too, shudder, and generally replace it with "from"; but "off" works, as well.

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
[I provide low-cost, remote Database Administration services: www.dasages.com]
“Beware of those that seek to protect you from harm or risk. The cost will be your freedoms and your liberty.”

 

[SantaMufasa]

Just now on CNN, White House reporter Elaine Quijano invited us to "take a listen to what President Obama said."

Sheesh...I believe that I'll "take a powder" from CNN for a while.

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
[I provide low-cost, remote Database Administration services: www.dasages.com]
“Beware of those that seek to protect you from harm or risk. The cost will be your freedoms and your liberty.”

 

[flapeyre]

When someone asks me to "take a gander", I want to say, "But the goose will not be happy!"


-- Francis
I'd like to change the world, but I can't find the source code.

 

[BadBigBen]

OFF OF is perfectly fine, though it may sound awkward, the encasings, now that one is more than awkward, since it is a VERB and not a NOUN...

but it is SO (Southern) American that it hurts (before you know it, it will get added as a noun in the dictionary), e.g. the debut Metal Album from the band As I Lay Dying called: Beneath the Encasing of Ashes.

Off of

For most Americans, the natural thing to say is “Climb down off of [pronounced “offa”] that horse, Tex, with your hands in the air”; but many UK authorities urge that the “of” should be omitted as redundant. Where British English reigns you may want to omit the “of” as superfluous, but common usage in the US has rendered “off of” so standard as to generally pass unnoticed, though some American authorities also discourage it in formal writing. But if “onto” makes sense, so does “off of.” However, “off of” meaning “from” in phrases like “borrow five dollars off of Clarice” is definitely nonstandard.

Source: Non-Errors from the Book: Common Errors in English by Paul Brians

Ben
"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."
How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.
Only ask questions with yes/no answers if you want "yes" or "no"

 

[KenCunningham]

Thanks Ben. I didn't mean it was an error, just that it sounds awkward to most of us on this side of the big pond.

Some days are diamonds, some days are rocks - make sure most are the former.

 

[BadBigBen]

Ken, no problem, I did not say it was an error or non-error, that is what that site/book calls it... and I agree, it is awkward, even to my ears (eyes)...



Ben
"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."
How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.
Only ask questions with yes/no answers if you want "yes" or "no"