When written in all capital letters (OFF), this is an acronym for Our Favorite Family, aka The Simpsons. It is often used by fans in alt.tv.simpsons or in the episode capsules at snpp.com. This is not obvious to anyone who left the USEnet alt.* hierarchy a long time ago, but the die-hard fans still use it constantly.

The most obvious reason behind the emergence of the "OFF" acronym: both the show's title and central characters bear the same name. Consider the sentence:

Tonight on The Simpsons, the Simpsons help Apu get his job back at the Kwik-E-Mart.

versus

Tonight on The Simpsons, OFF helps Apu get his job back at the Kwik-E-Mart.

See that? By using the acronym as a collective noun, we save eight bytes. You can save even more by using abbreviations like SLH for Santa's Little Helper, and so forth. In the end, you can shave milliseconds off the download time for an episode capsule, a boon for anyone downloading it over a 2400 bps satellite phone connection.

He was a good guy, and a great employee. But then I caught him in bed with my pikachu, so I had to have him offed.

To "off" a person means to kill them. It is a slang term and implies that they were killed in a routinized gangster (not gangsta) fashion, rather than in self-defense or in a fit of passion. It is insultingly casual, and should never be used in a formal situation, or when you want to convey the least scrap of sensitivity.

Off is also the name of a popular brand of insect repellent, more properly rendered "Off!".

You are the Batter. You are on a mission.

No, wait. That is incorrect.

You are [Your Name Here]. You are a spiritual entity assigned to the Batter. The Batter is on a mission. His decisions are his own, though you control his body and guide him to where he needs to be.

What is his mission? To travel through the dimensional Zones of this world and cleanse it from the evil spirits called Spectres. The problem? Each Zone is ruled by a neglectful and/or malevolent Guardian. They, too, must be purified. And you begin hearing rumors about a Queen who is somehow responsible for all of this. . .


OFF is a surreal-horror French video game made by Mortis Ghost. The music and some voices are done by Alias Conrad Coldwood. The game was released in France in 2008, with an English translation released in 2011. You can download the latest version of the translated game here. The original French can be found here.

This game is very very French. By which I mean it is surreal as fuck, with a plot that simultaneously makes no sense at all and is entirely sensible. Batter must purify the world and destroy evil spirits. That is a clear and simple premise. But where did he come from? Why is he a baseball batter? What transports him to Zone 0 (where the game begins) when it The Judge makes it clear that nobody else was living in Zone 0? What is his connection to the Queen? To the Mysterious Child who has cutscenes between each Guardian Battle? Who the hell is Sugar? Why are there rings of spirit energy that help you in battle?

Who knows!

Oh, who is "The Judge"? The Judge is a loquacious cat who teaches you how to solve the puzzles in the game before sending you off on your way to the "World Map?" which is "The Nothing." From the Nothing, provided you have the appropriate Zodiac Card, you can access the other Zones.

This world is comprised of four Zones and their inhabitants that are called (by fans) "Elsens". Elsens are neurotic little dudes whose neuroses differ from zone to zone. Better watch out; if an Elsen gets too worked up, or gets deprived of the narcotic Sugar they're addicted to, they can become Burnt and the Batter will have to fight them.


Zone One is the source of the each of the world's four basic elements: smoke, metal, plastic, and meat.

Smoke is the first of the elements and it therefore the most important; without smoke, people would have nothing to breathe. It is mined from the metallic earth and bottled, then sent to other zones so that they may breathe as well. The metal they dig up is also purified and sent off to make tools.

Metal is taken from the cows. Cows are cut in half, and then the workers dig out the massive chunks of metal from inside the cow's meat. The good metal is sent to be purified and formed into tools, but the bad metal is tossed onto the ground and becomes part of the earth people walk on. Both kinds of metals are shipped elsewhere so that other ones may have tools and walk as well. Metal is clearly the first and most important of the elements; without metal, nobody would be walking on anything. Everyone would just fall and drown.

Plastic is a substance that forms the lakes and oceans. There is also solid plastic that the plastic factory uses to make various objects. Because the plastic oceans, lakes, and rivers create boundaries in the world, it is clearly the most important element and the first of the four elements. Without it, people would walk and walk without ever stopping.

Meat is found in the meat fountains of Alma, where it is received from the cows harvested for metal. In Alma, the meat flows freely and is bottled to send to other zones. Meat is needed because without it, the population would starve. Meat is obviously the first of the four elements.

The Guardian of this Zone is Dedan, who is a complete tool.

Zone Two is a gated community of cowards with a giant library and theme park that is Disneyland run by people who hate Disneyland. The Elsen here are the most fearful and neurotic in the whole game, as well as the most gullible. The library could give you some backstory and explanation for what the hell is up with the Zone Two Guardian, Japhet, the eternal bird of fire, and why there's an angry cat yelling at people.

Zone Three is a big happy factory, where all the Elsen are oddly at ease with the spectres in the hallways that are killing them. Everyone is happy happy happy, unless you make the mistake of touching the factory's product. By the way, did I mention that the factory produces Sugar? Only there's something unusual about how this Sugar is made...

The Room is the final Zone. Stuff gets Real in The Room.


This game is definitely worth a playthrough, though if you are like me and rather watch someone else play a game instead of play it yourself, there's always the Markiplier let's play.

every time I turn something off

I turn the television off in 2011
I turn Facebook off for a while
for days
I turn the computer off every morning
I turn the radio off
the stereo off
the lights off
the heat off

I sit

I listen to the wind
the birds
the sounds

I feel the wind
the rain
the ice
the sun

I touch
the earth

she is present
alert
awake
listening

she touches me back


IRON NODER: TOKYO DRIFT

Off (?), adv. [OE. of, orig. the same word as R. of, prep., AS. of, adv. & prep. 194. See Of.]

In a general sense, denoting from or away from; as:

1.

Denoting distance or separation; as, the house is a mile off.

2.

Denoting the action of removing or separating; separation; as, to take off the hat or cloak; to cut off, to pare off, to clip off, to peel off, to tear off, to march off, to fly off, and the like.

3.

Denoting a leaving, abandonment, departure, abatement, interruption, or remission; as, the fever goes off; the pain goes off; the game is off; all bets are off.

4.

Denoting a different direction; not on or towards: away; as, to look off.

5.

Denoting opposition or negation.

[Obs.]

The questions no way touch upon puritanism, either off or on.
Bp. Sanderson.

From off, off from; off. "A live coal...taken with the tongs from off the altar." Is. vi. 6. -- Off and on. (a) Not constantly; not regularly; now and then; occasionally. (b) Naut. On different tacks, now toward, and now away from, the land. -- To be off. (a) To depart; to escape; as, he was off without a moment's warning. (b) To be abandoned, as an agreement or purpose; as, the bet was declared to be off. [Colloq.] -- To come off, To cut off, To fall off, To go off, etc. See under Come, Cut, Fall, Go, etc. -- To get off. (a) To utter; to discharge; as, to get off a joke. (b) To go away; to escape; as, to get off easily from a trial. [Colloq.] -- To take off, to mimic or personate. <-- also, to take off on, to do a take-off on --> -- To tell off Mil., to divide and practice a regiment or company in the several formations, preparatory to marching to the general parade for field exercises. Farrow. <-- (b) to criticise --> -- To be well off, to be in good condition. -- To be ill off, To be badly off, to be in poor condition.

 

© Webster 1913.


Off (?), interj.

Away; begone; -- a command to depart.

 

© Webster 1913.


Off, prep.

Not on; away from; as, to be off one's legs or off the bed; two miles off the shore.

Addison.

Off hand. See Offhand. -- Off side (Football), out of play; -- said when a player has got in front of the ball in a scrimmage, or when the ball has been last touched by one of his own side behind him. -- To be off color, to be of a wrong color. <-- to be mildly obscene --> -- To be off one's food, to have no appetite. (Colloq.)

 

© Webster 1913.


Off, a.

1.

On the farther side; most distant; on the side of an animal or a team farthest from the driver when he is on foot; in the United States, the right side; as, the off horse or ox in a team, in distinction from the nigh or near horse or ox; the off leg.

2.

Designating a time when one is not strictly attentive to business or affairs, or is absent from his post, and, hence, a time when affairs are not urgent; as, he took an off day for fishing: an off year in politics.

"In the off season."

Thackeray.

Off side. (a) The right hand side in driving; the farther side. See Gee. (b) Cricket See Off, n.

 

© Webster 1913.


Off, n. Cricket

The side of the field that is on the right of the wicket keeper.

 

© Webster 1913.

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