Chrysti The Wordsmith: Off the Cuff - 2

Greetings and welcome to Christie the wordsmith from Montana State University in Bozeman. Last time we looked at the common expression off the cuff and its rather vague history. Every American English speaker can identify this phrase as a verbal formula for the notion of spontaneity speaking extemporaneously shooting from the lip. Americans have been putting the phrase off the cuff to use for at least 70 years. Some etymological sources offer that the expression alludes to a public speaker pending last minute notes on his shirt sleeve. So reading his props off the cuff illustrates the speaker's spontaneity. Another possibility is tendered in the Facts on File encyclopedia of word and phrase origins compiler. Robert Hendrickson writes off the cuff unrehearsed or extemporaneous may come from impromptu notes early Hollywood directors jotted down on their cuffs while shooting a difficult scene in a movie. These ideas not in the script were conveyed to the actors when the scene was reshot. Well one could argue in the scenario that writing ideas

on paper would have been so much easier than trying to jot notes on a shirt sleeve but there it is. One word lovers attempt to explain off the cuff. The expression started showing up in American documents in the 1930s though it probably was in verbal circulation for some years prior to that decade. From Montana State University. Fam. I'm Christie the wordsmith. CHRISTIE The wordsmith is sponsored by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Zoot enterprises a high tech firm in Bozeman Montana offering challenging careers and innovative solutions for the financial services industry. Zoot web dot com.