From the off?

Reader question:

Please explain “from the off” in this sentence: The opening scene (of the film) had us hooked from the off.

My comments:

The opening scene of the film was so exciting (or mysterious or otherwise intriguing) that it got us hooked right away.

Like fish that has taken the bait and swallowed the fishing hook.

From the off?

That means from the very beginning, off as in “off you go”.

“From the off” is a sports term that describes the beginning of a race where players are lined up waiting for the off or the off signal.

When the signal, such as the shot of the starting gun used in the Olympics, is given, the runners take off running.

Hence, “the off” is synonymous with the start of a journey or endeavor.

From the off, therefore, means from the start, right from the beginning.

Simple?

Simple but good. “From the off” is proper English. Learn to use it when the right occasion for this British expression arises.

And here are recent media examples:

1. Few television broadcasts have been as epochal as David Bowie’s 6 July 1972 appearance on Top Of The Pops. Performing what was then his latest single, Starman, on the BBC’s flagship music show, Bowie not only added rocket fuel to his own career, but he also effectively launched the 70s – and inspired a whole host of future icons to pursue their dreams of stardom.

In just three and a half minutes, Bowie changed it all with his Top Of The Pops performance of Starman. Here’s how…

Starman could have been the song that never was. When Bowie first delivered his album The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars, to his record label, the company bosses felt that it lacked a single. Heading back into the studio on 4 February 1972, Bowie pulled out a new song he’d written, Starman, and recorded it with his band, The Spiders From Mars, who immediately saw its potential.

“I think Mick [Ronson, guitarist] and I went out in the car after David played it for us the first time, and we were already singing it, having only heard it once,” Spiders drummer Woody Woodmansey later told The Quietus. “It was an obvious hit single!”

With Bowie’s record label also convinced, the Ziggy Stardust album was complete. And yet, in the weeks immediately following its release as a single, on 28 April, Starman flew closer to the ground than anticipated.

Speaking for the liner notes to the Ziggy-era box set, Rock’n’Roll Star!, Anya Wilson, a record plugger who worked Bowie’s releases in the early to mid-70s, recalled the efforts Bowie’s team had been making to get him media exposure. BBC radio had become a home of sorts for Bowie throughout the first half of 1972, while a pre-recorded performance of Starman aired on ITV on 21 June during an episode of Lift Off With Ayshea, as hosted by actress Ayshea Hague. But the BBC’s Top Of The Pops was the coveted booking, despite hesitation from the show’s producers.

“David could be very controversial in press interviews, very ‘gender bending’, and people were fearful,” Wilson explained. But serendipity stepped in, and Bowie was called up at short notice: “There was a cancellation, they needed an act, and so yes, they put him on.”

On Wednesday, 5 July 1972, Bowie and The Spiders From Mars entered Studio 8 at BBC Television Centre, in White City, London, to record the performance that would change his career forever.

Musicians’ Union regulations stipulated that any Top Of The Pops performance had to be mimed to a newly recorded backing track, allowing only for lead vocals to be sung live during the show’s taping. To comply, a whole new version of Starman, complete with strings and backing vocals, had been laid down at Trident Studios on 29 June, and, with The Spiders From Mars – augmented by pianist Nicky Graham – miming beside him, Bowie sang along in the BBC studio, writing himself into rock history as he did so.

Right from the off, Bowie’s debut Top Of The Pops performance was different from anything that had come before: even the black-and-white TVs of the era would have registered the Technicolor explosion of his red, blue and gold quilted jumpsuit, his burnt-orange spiky mullet, and his cherry-red boots. Flanking him, in peroxide-dyed hairdos and shiny satin catsuits that shimmered under the studio lights, The Spiders looked every bit the intergalactic infantry to Bowie’s otherworldly space invader. But it was Bowie’s singular presence that drew the cameras – and the eyes of thousands watching when the performance was aired the day after filming, on 6 July 1972.

Tossing his head to the side, smiling as if he had a secret the audience simply needed to know, Bowie strummed his bright-blue guitar as he set the scene: “Didn’t know what time it was, and the lights were low-ho-ho…” With a nod to his glam-rock rival Marc Bolan, whose T.Rex song Get It On had become an anthem for the glitter children (“Some cat was laying down some get-it-on rock’n’roll”), Bowie claimed the pop crown for himself as he casually draped an arm around the shoulder of guitarist Mick Ronson during Starman’s chorus, his white-painted fingernails on full display. Securing his ascent to the throne, he pointed to the camera – and out into homes across the UK – as if singling out every individual adolescent watching beside their perplexed, even flatly outraged, parents: “I had to phone someone, so I picked on you-oo-oo.” A generation of transfixed adolescents eagerly received the call.

“I just couldn’t believe how striking he was,” future punk icon Siouxsie Sioux, then only 15, said later. “That ambiguous sexuality was so bold and futuristic that it made the traditional male/female role-play thing seem so outdated.”

- Why David Bowie’s ‘Top Of The Pops’ Starman Performance Changed The World, ThisIsDig.com, July 6, 2024.

2. If you knew that your final hour was approaching, how would you spend the time you had left? This is the question that’s been on Gabriel Moses’ mind lately. “I feel like a lot of us live our lives not knowing,” the London-born photographer and filmmaker tells Dazed. “But if you did know, what would your approach be? Maybe that family member you’ve been very distant from, you’d reach out. Or… there’s a lot of things we just push to the back of our agenda, because we think we’ve got time.”

In his new short film, The Last Hour, this problem takes a physical shape. We join the protagonist as he wakes up with a time bomb on his chest, visibly ticking toward zero. At first, he panics (an understandable response) but over the course of the film’s runtime we begin to see him grapple with various emotions, confronting deep questions about human morality and legacy. “You’re right behind him as he goes through this journey,” adds Moses, who shot the short in Atlanta with support from Timberland. The aim? To produce something “powerful, thought-provoking, and entertaining at the same time,” and ultimately make the audience question how they themselves are living.

Moses himself has been thinking about questions of purpose and legacy for a long time. “I’ve been obsessed with the idea of building a legacy since I was 18, and every action is for my future self, or for a generation after me,” he says. “That’s the standpoint that I’ve created from. I wanted to create timeless work from the off.”

There’s no denying that he’s succeeded in building that strong legacy, either. The Last Hour – which is Moses’ first narrative-led film – was actually commissioned by 180 Studios (and executive produced by Division and GOAT) for an extensive exhibition of his work at 180 Studios, running until 27 July 2025. Titled Selah, and curated by Katja Horvat in collaboration with 180 Studios, this brings together more than 70 photos and ten films, showcasing his unique image-making across fashion, music and sport. In many cases, this work has also seen him collide with major cultural figures like Travis Scott and Playboi Carti, Schoolboy Q, Skepta, and Jude Bellingham.

- Gabriel Moses, The Last Hour, DazedDigital.com, April 1, 2025.

3. Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has a long-lasting feud with the TRIC Awards – despite taking home the coveted Best News Presenter gong last year. The GB News star and Clacton MP turned up to the Television and Radio Industries Club Awards in 2024 only to be greeted by boos from the crowd – and even “stormed off” the red carpet.

Things didn’t go smoothly from the off, and as Farage took to the stage to accept his trophy, he was faced with booing from the audience. Putting on a brave face, he said: “It’s like the crowd at a wrestling event – I noticed much less hostility than last year!”

He flipped the bird to his haters while posing with his award, adding in his acceptance speech: “And just think about it – GB News Breakfast has won, the Camilla Tominey interview with Alastair Stewarrt has won, and I’ve won for the second year in a row, news presenter of the year. And that says to you that GB News is now here to stay as a mainstream broadcaster in this country and thank goodness for that.”

He added: “Well no, those that boo clearly don’t like competition!”

Things turned tense on the red carpet, too, when Farage was quizzed about having a milkshake thrown over him by reporters. A reporter asked him: “So the whole milkshake thing… it wasn’t real?” – leading Farage to refuse to answer, turning on his heel to walk away.

- Nigel Farage’s TRIC Awards feud – red carpet storm off and booed by crowd, Express.co.uk, June 24, 2025.

本文仅代表作者本人观点，与本网立场无关。欢迎大家讨论学术问题，尊重他人，禁止人身攻击和发布一切违反国家现行法律法规的内容。

About the author:

Zhang Xin is Trainer at chinadaily.com.cn. He has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for potential use in a future column.

（作者：张欣）