Eggcorn Forum

“Off the cuff” typically means “spontaneous, impromptu, unrehearsed.” The people who keep track of this stuff say it comes from the idea that after-dinner speakers might scribble a few brief notes on their cuffs and look at them surreptitiously during their speech. As good an explanation as any, I guess, but probably not obvious to many people who use this odd phrase – hence the reshaping. Things slide down from a cusp fairly easily and spontaneously, and that would appear to be the basis of the new imagery. Couldn’t get a count on this one since there are plenty of legitimate uses of “off the cusp” (108k raw hits total), but it seems pretty clear that the eggcornish instances number in the thousands. Examples:

Stress levels heighten as I put forth my affable side (without ordering a mocha) while hiding some slight nerves at the prospect of conducting an off the cusp interview – a relatively new experience for a lowly journalism student.
http://theperfectinterval.blogspot.com/

And while it seems as if he tried to make the book fairly evenhanded, every once in a while Broder makes an off the cusp comment that is virulently cynical about the people’s ability to make good choices.
http://www.amazon.com/Democracy-Deraile … 0151004641

However, our visit was not off the cusp or impromptu, it was orchestrated. Infact it was a Christmas celebration.
http://tourism.brighton.co.uk/eating/re … RestID=139

Rare’s biggest hit, however, came from an off-the-cusp remark made by Tim Stamper, one of Rare’s founders, to a Japanese representative of Nintendo.
http://www.jivemagazine.com/column.php?pid=2363

Tarantino successfully embeds all of his off-the-cusp genre hopping into a film with an invigorating story line and fun action sequences.
http://daily.stanford.edu/article/2004/ … ToKillBill

There’s another use of “off the cusp” out there that I wasn’t familiar with till I went looking for the eggcorn. People are also using the phrase to mean “after, following.” Makes sense – it parallels “on the cusp of,” which refers to something that hasn’t happened yet. A couple of examples:

The hardline Communist state, whose provincial Juche system has provided much in the way of interesting yet overlooked nationalistic proposals both in the realm of theory and practice, is celebrating the 65th birthday of its absolute ruler, Kim-Jong-Il, off the cusp of a recent deal pertaining to its much maligned nuclear program which will glean the North much needed fuel and economic aid.
http://www.westernrevival.org/?p=187

I had incredibly high expectations for this record, coming off the cusp of The Sunset Tree, an album which had shone with the best of Darnielle’s wit and lyrical brilliance.
http://www.rainydawg.org/musicreviews.php?reviewID=219

And if there are any other fans of the band The Mountain Goats out there, that last example comes from a pretty good blog review of their latest album. I agree with the writer—it’s okay, but not nearly as involving as the wonderful and wrenching The Sunset Tree.