Get Off Of “Off Of”

Headline of a Tuesday Boston Globe editorial:

Craigslist should give up its lucrative ‘adult services’

It was the pull quote, though, that really stood out:

The site is, at the end of the day, profiting off of prostitution.

Really? Not “profiting from prostitution,” which has both a better rhythm and a better sound?

No – because off of is the new off.

Plug “off of” into the Googletron and you get 42,600,000 results, the first of which is this from AnswerBag:

Is it bad grammar to use ‘off of’ anywhere within a sentence?

The answer is yes.

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3 Responses to Get Off Of “Off Of”

  1. Bill S's avatar Bill S says:

    And how about “I really get off on him/her”?

  2. Steve Stein's avatar Steve Stein says:

    Yesterday, International Herald Tribune crossword 122 down – “Get your hands off me!” and I thought “vindication!”

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