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Ready for the off

Posted by David FG on December 12, 2007

In Reply to: Ready for the off posted by Martin Gough on December 12, 2007

: What is the origin of the phrase, "Ready for the off!"?

I believe it comes from horse-racing. Commentators on hat sport traditionally using the phrases:

'They're under starter's orders; and they're off!' at the beginnning of a race. Hence, the 'off' is the start of a race, or by extension, anything else.

DFG

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