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Idioms

TheOldMole Feb 22 2009 10:00 AM

So many of my students use common idioms, especially prepositional idioms, incorrectly. So I went looking for web sites that have lists of idioms, and I found a couple. The paper I'm looking at right now has the phrase "this is why it isn’t unusual to find one that is based off of the other." "Off of" is wrong, and I assumed "based off" to be wrong. One [url=http://www.cliffsnotes.com/WileyCDA/CliffsReviewTopic/The-Idiom.topicArticleId-29011,articleId-29000.html]online list of correct idioms[/url] cites "based on not based in, but doesn't mention "based off." However, [url=http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_meaning_of_based_off]WikiAnswers[/url], which I'm not sure I trust, has the following: ] What is the meaning of based off? Based off means "started from or founded on." Has anyone ever run across this idiom?

batmagadanleadoff Feb 22 2009 12:11 PM

My intuition is that the phrase "based off" is off base. But I have no proof. Hope this helps.

metsmarathon Feb 22 2009 01:12 PM

http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/based.html ]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.

TheOldMole Feb 22 2009 01:54 PM

I just wrote Brians an email about another of his rules -- this one about how some brand names have become generic names, like Kleenex or Jell-o. He mentioned "Hoover" as a brand name that became generic for a while, then lost its universality. He also mentioned "Xerox" as a brand-become-generic. I wrote him to say that I had asked my students to xerox their papers and give me the copies, and none of them did because they had never heard the word and had no idea what it meant. He wrote me back to inform me that i was wrong.

batmagadanleadoff Feb 22 2009 03:41 PM

="TheOldMole":3ttveb0h]I just wrote Brians an email about another of his rules -- this one about how some brand names have become generic names, like Kleenex or Jell-o. He mentioned "Hoover" as a brand name that became generic for a while, then lost its universality. He also mentioned "Xerox" as a brand-become-generic. I wrote him to say that I had asked my students to xerox their papers and give me the copies, and none of them did because they had never heard the word and had no idea what it meant. He wrote me back to inform me that i was wrong.[/quote:3ttveb0h] Wrong about what -- that your students never heard the word "Xerox"? TheOldMole Feb 22 2009 09:09 PM Wrong that my students proved anything about the fading from general use of the word. LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Feb 23 2009 07:02 PM So... Brian's implicit point is that we're using just as much paper-- and copying machines-- as ever? I take it that you had this discourse via hand-messengered letter?