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Re: off of
Posted By: Judas Maccabeus, on host 206.244.141.40
Date: Wednesday, April 27, 2005, at 16:25:32
In Reply To: off of posted by Howard on Wednesday, April 27, 2005, at 15:07:59:

> I keep seeing the use of "off of" when "off" is enough. Today, I found it in the operating instructions for my lawn mower, and I see it in the paper from time to time. Once recently, I saw in it a magazine. In this area it is common in speech.
>
> That instruction manual even used "due" instead of "do," but that may be someone translating from one language to another. Usually, it's Japanese or Chinese to English, and English is the translator's second language.
>
> I also notice confusion between "sale" and "sell." A columnist did that in a recent column that ran in the Knoxville paper. I also see it on signs and in classifieds. They say "For Sell," or "Must Sale." I wonder if that is a regional thing.
> Howard

I tend not to notice these sorts of things as often. Then again, I'm from northern Kentucky, where if you want to find any concievable American accent and dialect (and many non-American) you don't have to go more than 50 miles. So I'm used to them by now.

That, and we've got odd affectations all our own around here... one thing that always seems to get people outside of this area is our tendancy to say "Please?" when we didn't understand what someone just said. Comes from our formerly inexhaustable supply of German immigrants, or so I've heard.

Ah, I love studying dialects. Always have been an amateur linguist. Now if only I was good at it!

--Judas Maccabeus

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