People living in Mountain View are familiar with the phrase from off and visitors might even hear it! It usually goes like this: Oh, you're from off. Where does this unusual description come from? There are a few explanations.
Mountain View remained fairly isolated before improved roads and the fame of the "modern" Arkansas Folk Festival and the thousands of visitors it attracted. Many of the families in the area had ancestral links to England, Ireland, and Scotland and one explanation of from off includes a trip to Ireland. A man familiar with Mountain View was visiting Ireland and when asked the common question, "Where are you from?" he answered that he was from the United States. Oh, you're from offn!, said the questioner.
Some say that offn comes down to us from Old English. The word off translating roughly to "away." So, the phrase heard in Mountain View would indicate that one is "from away." Whatever the origin of the phrase, it has stuck! The next question would be, does someone from off ever migrate out of that category? Not likely, but, the Ozark folks are so nice that it really doesn't matter which category you find yourself in...it's a wonderful place to call home.
Entry by Lenore Shoults with John Perry's input on the phrase from off.
Comments