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I note that "He! (hey!) You! (you!) Get Off of My Cloud" was written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards (back in the Brian Jones era). Neither is USAnian although of course there is a lot of USAnian influence on British pop/rock lyrics.

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31

#25 -- Spoken US English only. Often coming out as "offa".

Yes, and heard very often. But not from careful speakers, I think. (I may be wrong.)

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32

I don't think you'll hear it from me. Let me know if you do.

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33

Vinny's right.

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34

Isn't that enough to make English the dominant/preferred version in Asia, orangutan? (#8)

I guess it depends on what you define as dominant, the total number of countries or the total speakers, bearing in mind India uses BrE, if you prefer the latter definition; All the Commonwealth countries definitely use BrE, including HK, I think. And if you include NZ and OZ, OK, let's not go there....;)

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35

I don't think you'll hear it from me. Let me know if you do.

I don't think I've ever heard it from you. And I would have noticed.

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36

No, you're right, let's not leave Asia in order to see which is the dominant version in Asia. Let's not look at Britain and Ireland either.

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37

Interesting....

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38

'Off of' is widely used in the UK too, but I would say it has a distinct working-class/non-standard feel to it (this is not a value judgement, just an observation).

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39

I think I'd accept
"Hey! Tell your kid to get off of that display!" (I just ordered my cat to get off of the kitchen counter.)
But not
"He borrowed ten dollars off of me." In this case, "off" alone isn't really standard either. It should be "from."

But then "out of" is standard. He walked out of the building.

The phrasal preposition off of is old in English, going back to the 16th century. Although usage guides reject it as redundant, recommending off without of, the phrase is widespread in speech, including that of the educated: Let's watch as the presidential candidates come off of the rostrum and down into the audience. Off of is rare in edited writing except to give the flavor of speech. [Dictionary.com which says "Based on the Random House Dictionary"]

For most Americans, the natural thing to say is “Climb down off of [pronounced “offa”] that horse, Tex, with your hands in the air”; but many UK authorities urge that the “of” should be omitted as redundant. Where British English reigns you may want to omit the “of” as superfluous, but common usage in the US has rendered “off of” so standard as to generally pass unnoticed, though some American authorities also discourage it in formal writing. But if “onto” makes sense, so does “off of.” However, “off of” meaning “from” in phrases like “borrow five dollars off of Clarice” is definitely nonstandard. source

Merriam-Webster's dictionary of English usage + has a lengthy discussion of "off of." They call it an "innocuous idiom."

And, for a message board post "the OED lists off of from 1450 onwards, but comments: In later use only colloq. (non-standard) and regional."


Nutrax
The plural of anecdote is not data.
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