IRRELEVANCE ALERT
Just going to have an utterly irrelevant off-topic rant here, so move along and ignore me if you prefer.
“Fresh OFF his role…”
?
I’ve been concerned about the US War on Abstract Nouns (Drugs, Terror) for a while, and in this category I include the US War on Prepositions.
I’m sure it’s just me, but “Fresh FROM his role…” is rather more accurate, not to say elegant, isn’t it?
Which brings me to the many other things that are “based off of”, which seems logically to imply “not based on”
‘This tale is based off of a true story’ = so it is based on something else, then?
‘This tale is based ON a true story’ = it IS based on a true story.
‘Based off of that…" = so, based on something else, then.
"Based on that…’ - yes, whatever it is, it IS based on whatever that was.
And then there’s ‘based out of’
‘The blogger works (or is based) out of Miami’ = the writer works somewhere other than Miami.
‘The blogger works FROM (or is based IN) Miami’ - yep, that’s where she works/is based, alright.
And then there’s this from today’s BB:
I’m guessing the use of “off” is a key part of what @beep54orama was taking issue with.
So is “off” the new US English universal preposition, now? Well maybe not, but ‘on’ and ‘in’ seem threatened with loss due to lack of use when another preposition followed by ‘of’ (out of, off of) seems to be the style these days.
And don’t get me started on stuff like TV adverts about films available “on DVD Monday”. Is that like Easter Sunday? When is “DVD Monday”? Oh, it is available on DVD FROM Monday", I see.
And as for the headline ’ Florida Man Arrested Monday’ - he did what? How? Is Monday a person?
And if anyone is still here:
“You can build a structure around a center, but bases go on the bottom of things, so you can’t base something around something else. Similarly, you can build something off of a starting point, but you can’t base anything off of anything. Something is always based on something else.”
based around | Common Errors in English Usage and More | Washington State University
I’m going to have a nice cup of tea and a sit down now, and normal service will be resumed shortly.