"Off of" vs "From" - Grammar and Style - What should be used

[kjv1611]

In the thread:
thread1256-1440676,

Thargslayer said:

Americans saying "off of" instead of from.

Is this acceptable in American English, or just poor performance from our colonial cousins, who use and abuse English, well.... almost as much as the English!

SantaMufasa and Stella740pl seemed to disagree with Tharg, at least from a grammatical standpoint.

What I would like to propose is that we discuss the grammatical and stylistic usage for the phrase "off of." For instance, it may be grammatically correct in some cases, but may not be the best style chosen for a particular audience.

One example sentence that I can think if would be saying:
"The ball bounced off of the rim."

In the above sentence, I believe there are only 2 other methods the idea could be clearly expressed.
[ol]
[li]"The ball bounced off the rim."[/li]
[li]"Brick!" [/li]
[/ol]

Depending upon your audience and the context of your situation, one of the 3 would be more appropriate than the other two.

I can not see this form conveying the information correctly:
"The ball bounced from the rim."

It doesn't seem to portray the same information. In my opinion, I would take "bounced from the rim" to mean that the ball was thrown strait at the goal, and then basically ricocheted. By using "off of", it would seem more that someone attempted to take a "normal" shot at the basket, and the ball then bounced up into the air.

This post is getting dangerously close to being too long!

--

"If to err is human, then I must be some kind of human!" -Me

 

[2ffat]

Well, we could always go the other way, "The ball bounced off of from the rim." And yes, I have heard this phrase from a sports commentator.


James P. Cottingham
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[CajunCenturion]

==> And yes, I have heard this phrase from a sports commentator.
Oh well then, that clearly must mean it's correct.

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[MeGustaXL]

Must be OK - there's a song title with it in:
"Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You", written by Bob Crewe and Bob Gaudio

This morning on Radio 2, Sarah Kennedy played this song and remarked that her father would be "spinning in his grave" at this abuse of the English language.

<duck>
'Pends if you speak English or Merkin, I s'pose
</duck>

Chris

So you ride yourselves over the fields,
and you make all your animal deals,
and your wise men don't know how it feels...

Ian Anderson

 

[Welshbird]

I heard that too, and I thought of this thread.

Makes me wanna spit a wasp as they would say at home.

Fee

"The cure for anything is salt water – sweat, tears, or the sea." Isak Dinesen

 

[SantaMufasa]

"Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You"

Didn't you know that both these men had glass eyes that that occasionally took out and placed upon their girlfriends? <grin>

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
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