Ask-A-Linguist Message Details
| Subject: | 'out of' vs. 'off of' |
|---|---|
| Question: |
Why do you get ''out'' of a chair, but ''off'' of a sofa, bench, etc.? Is is just a colloquialism, or is there a root cause? Conversely, you sit ''in'' a chair, but ''on'' a bech, sofa, stool, etc. |
| Reply: |
A lot of prepositional use is somewhat arbitrary. I suspect that originally chairs were considered more of an enclosure (consider a large chair with arms) than a bench or stool which was just a platform. Over time, the architecture of the two have become more similar in many cases. For the record though, I can sit "on" a chair as well as "in" it. |
| Reply From: | Elizabeth J Pyatt click here to access email |
| Date: | 03-Oct-2012 |
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