Do, my dearest child, get meoff of this difficulty, and I can have no other[…].
1870–1871 (date written),Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], chapter XX, inRoughing It, Hartford, Conn.: American Publishing Company[et al.], published1872,→OCLC,page151:
The coach bounced up and down in such a terrific way that it jolted the buttons alloff of Horace’s coat,[…]
1928 September 28, “Eye of Gawd”, inTime:
"The green curtains that hung there for years and years... have been taken down and the blood-red cardinal velvet curtains have been hung up, and they have taken the green topoff of the President's desk and put a red one on that..."
1967, Bob Crewe / Bob Gaudio,Can't Take My Eyes Off You:
You're just too good to be true / I Can't take my eyesoff of you.
The use ofoff of as a preposition is now consideredtautological or incorrect by some usage guides and is not suitable for formal or business use.Off of can be replaced withon,from oroff: "This is based on (off of) his first book"; "I got the information from (off of) the Internet"; "He took a paper off (off of) his desk".
