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#1 2007-06-17 00:36:01

patschwieterman
Administrator
From: California
Registered: 2005-10-25
Posts: 1680

"off the cusp" for "off the cuff"

“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.

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#2 2007-06-17 09:39:26

jorkel
Eggcornista
Registered: 2006-08-08
Posts: 1456

Re: "off the cusp" for "off the cuff"

Just to clarify for those not familiar with it’s mathematical description, a cusp is a (curved) line which reaches a point then proceeds back along a different (curved) route. It might be noted that a curve containing a cusp resides to one side of the forementioned point—the apex. My own figurative interpretation of the apex is that it’s the point beyond which conventional wisdom would recommend not to proceed—perhaps a point of no return. If one were to dispose of caution and move past the apex, then one would be “off the cusp.”

I don’t know whether those who utter this eggcorn have this particular imagery in mind, but I’m tossing it out as one which seems to make sense to me. I also find this eggcorn quite delightful because it replaces a more familiar item (a cuff) with a less familiar item (a cusp). Ironically, it’s the latter which makes more sense than the former because—as Pat clearly pointed out—the original imagery is lost on most of us. This is clearly an eggcorn of a more sophisticated utterer who actually understands the notion of a cusp!

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#3 2007-06-17 12:11:12

Peter Forster
Eggcornista
From: UK
Registered: 2006-09-06
Posts: 1222

Re: "off the cusp" for "off the cuff"

I’ve a vague recollection of someone who thought ‘cusp’ had something to do with inebriation – “in his cups” perhaps? I append a few further manglings, and I’m going to watch out for those Mountain Goats…

TO LYE IN YOUR CUSP, VOLUMPTUOUS…....KISS/KISS. RED RUBY TRUE, CAN I LINGER IN YOUR CORSET,BABY BLUE? PUTTING MY HANDS RIGHT THROUGH, ONLY YOU. ...
blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.listAll&friendID=43165548&startID=111587369&StartP… – 42k – Supplemental Result – Cached

Yer dad sounds off his cusp. Funny you mentioned bipolar. I thought that about him while reviewing yer dream. Your mega-rage makes tons of sense to me. ...
www.dreemmoods.com/cgi-bin/dreamforum/Y … 6704253/50 – 273k – Cached

Little Parthiv Patel, for one brief moment, had the fate of India in his cusp but he failed to stump Ricky Ponting off Murali Kartik in the first over after …
www.tribuneindia.com/2004/20040107/sports.htm – 76k – Cached

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#4 2007-06-18 00:59:25

patschwieterman
Administrator
From: California
Registered: 2005-10-25
Posts: 1680

Re: "off the cusp" for "off the cuff"

Peter’s first example is a “double-dipper”—it’s also got the eggcornish “volumptuous,” discussed by gilibug and Brenda M. Shaw here: http://eggcorns.lascribe.net/forum/viewtopic.php?id=321

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#5 2021-06-05 21:31:37

kem
Eggcornista
From: Victoria, BC
Registered: 2007-08-28
Posts: 2851

Re: "off the cusp" for "off the cuff"

I spotted this on the caption of a CBC news article about John Rahm testing positive for COVID at a golf tournament. Before testing positive, the writer comments, “his performance left him on the cup of joining Tiger Woods as the only repeat winner.” It’s cusp, of course. One of our mathematical metaphors. But “cup” works strangely well, especially when talking about golf. The sense is perhaps “on the rim of a cup.”

Other examples:

A formal paper: “On the cup of a new century, the term ‘Nepali-American’ has become part of this country’s [America’s] vocabulary,” (login required)

Sports news site: “Manly is on the cup of becoming the second fastest team in history to reach the 900-win milestone,”

Blog: “The post further offers 8 symptoms of organizations on the cup of change.”

Mazda mag: “It is the official magazine of Mazda and in the latest edition it hinted that rotary engine is on the cup of making a comeback.” (site is flaky)

Gamer blog: “ Take on the role of Koi, a young orphan on the cup of adulthood, as they discover secrets of their past and journey into an uncertain future.”

Reddit post: “Liam is a 17-year-old on the cup of adulthood”

Last edited by kem (2021-06-05 22:28:23)


Hatching new language, one eggcorn at a time.

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