How are you today? :)
I have to admit that I am a little bit frustrated. Why? Because I have been planning to write this post for quite some time now and I've been thinking: wow, the idea behind the post is so cool, so magnificent that it's going to blow everybody's mind. The post is going to get big. The blog is going to get huge and next thing you know is me receiving an award for outstandingblogging.
(Yeah, I know what you're all thinking: Not happening!!!)
But now I can't even write a proper intro.
So let's just say that I'm going to write something mildlyinteresting and you're going to be troopers about it and read the whole post ;).
Getting back to the subject...
The inspiration for the post was a beautiful love song performed byLauryn Hill – Can't take my eyes off of you. You can listen to it below. (WARNING: people going through a love crisis might want to skip it.)
The first 20 seconds give me a shiver every single time. That's how amazing this song is!
Let's focus on the linguistic aspect of the song though – the off of bit to be precise, which is not common and not even correct to use, but still you can hear native speakers use it in everyday speech. What I have learnt from short online research and my own experience is that
- phrases containing off of belong to colloquial and highly informal speech and are often considered incorrect by English language purists;
- the of part is almost unnoticeable, but saying off of definitely takes longer that just saying off
- in most contexts, off of means: from but you can't always replace it with from.
A few examples:
MAKE MONEY OFF OF
'Garage Sale Gal' makes money off ofjunk'
Why can't she just be REALand say she makes money off ofthat?
Obviously,she makes money off ofher TV work. She does not have a large amount of money by any means, but she is not poor either.
BASED OFF OF
Dr. House is based off ofSherlock Holmes.
The Chevrolet emblemis based off ofa wallpaper design from Paris.
The sequel, The Pacific, is based off ofseveral veterans' memoirs.
TAKE IT OFF OF ME!
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| Sick Grandma and Little Red Riding Hood |
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| Cezar |
OFF OF THE INTERNET
However, when I print anything off of the internet(through Mozilla Firefox) the print is miniaturized.
My router keeps kicking me off of the internet.
I've ordered off of the internetmany times, this seemed to be the easiest.
OTHERS:
We sit down to eat off of the plastic platesthat do not all match and drink tea from glasses."
I got it off of a friend of mine.
Get off of me, you freak.
I can't get my mind off of my ex?
Ok, I guess that's it for now.
Bye ;)
GLOSSARY:
magnificent– wspaniały
to blow somebody's mind – powalić na kolana (If something blows your mind, you find it very exciting and unusual)
outstanding– wybitny
an intro – wstęp (introduction)
mildly – umiarkowanie
to be a trooper (about something) – być dzielnym, wytrwałym, a trooper – żołnierz
performed by – w wykonaniu
to skip something – pominąć
a shiver – dreszcz
linguistic– językowy
research– badanie
highly– bardzo, znacznie
to be considered incorrect – uważana za niepoprawną
purists – puryści
unnoticeable– niezauważalny
junk– śmieci
be real – być szczerym
obviously– wyraźnie, oczywiście
not by any means/ by no means – wcale (not at all)
an emblem – symbol, znak
memoirs – wspomnienia
Get off of me! – Zejdź ze mnie!
get your mind off of somebody/ something – zapomnieć o kimś, starać się nie myśleć o kimś
