Words, usages, and phrases that annoy the shit out of you...

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I keep saying writers use "based off of" and I think, uh, don't your prose triggers sound? Even if you didn't know the correct phrase is "based on" in most cases, "based off of" is the visual equivalent of a booger in a pint glass.

TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 13 April 2020 01:06 (four years ago) link

saying = seeing

TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 13 April 2020 01:06 (four years ago) link

All those needless "of"s are present in common speech. Like many double negatives that are used simply for more emphatic negation, they're essentially harmless 'pillow words', unworthy of your ire. When they appear in formal settings, they are mere slips into vulgarity.

A is for (Aimless), Monday, 13 April 2020 02:01 (four years ago) link

off've is not only fine, its good

ole uncle tiktok (darraghmac), Monday, 13 April 2020 02:18 (four years ago) link

I like "based off of". The alliteration of the voiceless and voiced fricative sounds great.

avellano medio inglés (f. hazel), Monday, 13 April 2020 02:30 (four years ago) link

In poetry.

TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 13 April 2020 02:39 (four years ago) link

nah, anytime

avellano medio inglés (f. hazel), Monday, 13 April 2020 03:07 (four years ago) link

they're essentially harmless 'pillow words', unworthy of your ire.

they’re like jamming 14 eggs into a carton made for 12

karmic blowback for dissing pip and jane baker (Autumn Almanac), Monday, 13 April 2020 03:14 (four years ago) link

Who made the carton in that analogy?

A is for (Aimless), Monday, 13 April 2020 03:15 (four years ago) link

jesus

karmic blowback for dissing pip and jane baker (Autumn Almanac), Monday, 13 April 2020 03:16 (four years ago) link

divinely mandated, eh?

A is for (Aimless), Monday, 13 April 2020 03:26 (four years ago) link

hosanna in eggshell sits

ole uncle tiktok (darraghmac), Monday, 13 April 2020 03:28 (four years ago) link

that... that's just... I have no words

A is for (Aimless), Monday, 13 April 2020 03:31 (four years ago) link

"Off of" is the only way in Our Queen's English to explain which TV programme you've seen an actor in before.

kinder, Monday, 13 April 2020 07:58 (four years ago) link

What's wrong with 'from'?

The Corbynite Maneuver (Tom D.), Monday, 13 April 2020 08:24 (four years ago) link

Exactly, you need a from

"that's him from off of The Bill"

Non, je ned raggette rien (onimo), Monday, 13 April 2020 09:43 (four years ago) link

Didn't Based Offov used to play up front for Bulgaria?

Vanishing Point (Chinaski), Monday, 13 April 2020 10:00 (four years ago) link

I believe The Man Off Of UNCLE was one of the most popular TV shows of the 60s.

The Corbynite Maneuver (Tom D.), Monday, 13 April 2020 11:00 (four years ago) link

ricky gervaise offive the office

ole uncle tiktok (darraghmac), Monday, 13 April 2020 11:03 (four years ago) link

'From' is kind of clunky, the Scottish 'fae' is much more elegant.

The Corbynite Maneuver (Tom D.), Monday, 13 April 2020 11:09 (four years ago) link

Round our way it's 'frae'

Non, je ned raggette rien (onimo), Monday, 13 April 2020 11:09 (four years ago) link

Indeed.

The Corbynite Maneuver (Tom D.), Monday, 13 April 2020 11:10 (four years ago) link

outside of a horse, a dog is man’s best friend. inside of a horse it’s too dark to see.

- bob marley

Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Monday, 13 April 2020 11:17 (four years ago) link

I need an around the frae girl

TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 13 April 2020 11:19 (four years ago) link

Bamboo earrins

genital giant (Neanderthal), Monday, 13 April 2020 12:00 (four years ago) link

based off of is good and correct

mark s, Monday, 13 April 2020 12:06 (four years ago) link

im professional sub editor, i sub it in even if its not there

mark s, Monday, 13 April 2020 12:07 (four years ago) link

With "off" being transitive I thought it didn't need "of," but I defer to you.

TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 13 April 2020 12:09 (four years ago) link

rhythmic necessity

ole uncle tiktok (darraghmac), Monday, 13 April 2020 12:11 (four years ago) link

Based af.

coviderunt omnes (pomenitul), Monday, 13 April 2020 12:13 (four years ago) link

deems is correct, english has no actual rules except what feels good, to me
— bob marley again

mark s, Monday, 13 April 2020 12:16 (four years ago) link

Don't let dem fool ya

genital giant (Neanderthal), Monday, 13 April 2020 12:25 (four years ago) link

Emancipate yourself off of mental slavery

- Bob Marley

Non, je ned raggette rien (onimo), Monday, 13 April 2020 12:36 (four years ago) link

dreadful quotes

calzino, Monday, 13 April 2020 12:38 (four years ago) link

lolz! xp

Wuhan!! Got You All in Check (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 13 April 2020 12:41 (four years ago) link

Get into my dreams
Get off of my car

genital giant (Neanderthal), Monday, 13 April 2020 13:13 (four years ago) link

Get Offa my Dike

Fleetwood Machiavelli (Ye Mad Puffin), Monday, 13 April 2020 13:36 (four years ago) link

based off of = based on?

weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Monday, 13 April 2020 14:11 (four years ago) link

"based off of" helps suggest that additional weird elements have crept in

mark s, Monday, 13 April 2020 14:40 (four years ago) link

yep, analogous to copied off of = copied from (see also "got off on")

For some people "based off" is probably being parsed as a phrasal verb (and why wouldn't it, English famously has over ten thousand of them) so tacking a prepositional phrase at the end of it is perfectly natural. But if you insist the construction is "based + prepositional phrase" then "based off of" is not going to work for you.

avellano medio inglés (f. hazel), Monday, 13 April 2020 14:54 (four years ago) link

i am an accelerationist descriptivist who is also a professional sub-editor, its wild over here

mark s, Monday, 13 April 2020 15:02 (four years ago) link

f hazel always making sense
trying to explain phrasal verbs to my students always leads to long faces -- there are SO many of them and the meaning of each one is not logical. we talked about "take ____" once and it actually reduced our morale :-/

weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Monday, 13 April 2020 15:25 (four years ago) link

phrasal verbs are probably the most annoying thing about the english language, so intuitively understood by native speakers, so impenetrable to everyone else. I think being aware of them when grading your speech might be the biggest eureka moment for a novice esl teacher.

Wuhan!! Got You All in Check (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 13 April 2020 15:29 (four years ago) link

the list of phrases with 'take' is only surpassed in ridiculousness by the many uses of 'set'

Wuhan!! Got You All in Check (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 13 April 2020 15:30 (four years ago) link

yeah you could probably take fifty common verbs and the fifty most common prepositions and make a matrix of phrasal verb definitions from them that would be baffling in its randomness

avellano medio inglés (f. hazel), Monday, 13 April 2020 15:31 (four years ago) link

a matrix out of

ole uncle tiktok (darraghmac), Monday, 13 April 2020 15:34 (four years ago) link

thinking about phrasal verbs makes me equal parts frustrated and sad -- frustrated for myself as a teacher and sad for my students that i have to tell them "it's possible u will never learn this"

i do enjoy explaining the difference between a phrasal verb and a prepositional phrase though
that's doable

weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Monday, 13 April 2020 15:34 (four years ago) link

it always makes me smile when I think of my grandmother, who would routinely come down hard on us kids for the most trivial grammatical transgressions, but whose everyday speech was full of phrases like "don't take on so" and "get away with you"

avellano medio inglés (f. hazel), Monday, 13 April 2020 15:36 (four years ago) link

take up
take out
take in
take with
take to
take after
take on

each with its own quite different distinct meaning

Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Monday, 13 April 2020 16:32 (four years ago) link


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