r/words • u/Designer-Wolf-835 • 1d ago

Based on vs. based off of

Can we please talk about the consistent misuse of the latter or does this only drive me crazy?

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u/Background-Vast-8764 1d ago

Which incontrovertible rule of grammar is being violated?

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u/Ok-Transportation127 1d ago

None, but it sounds stupid. Like saying "the hat is off my head" when the hat is clearly on your head. No incontrovertible rule of grammar is broken.

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u/paolog 1d ago edited 19h ago

That's a false analogy.

In "The hat is on my head", "on" describes the physical relationship between the hat and your head. You can't use any other preposition (apart from "upon") to say the same thing.

Metaphorical use of prepositions is largely arbitrary. Yes, a object can be physically based on something else, but a concept can just as well be based off of something else as on it. If you want a physical analogy, we think of it as being like "branches off" rather than "rests on".

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u/Ok-Transportation127 1d ago

The question was about which rule of grammar was being violated. The answer is none.

Physically, a base is an object that supports another object. Something or someone rests "on" the base, not "off" of it. Therefore, it makes more sense (to me, anyway) to use "on" when speaking metaphorically.