"off of" in NYT headline

[Wilson Gray]

Apprently, _off of_ is unusual in your dialect. However, it's not in
mine and, in the environment cited, excepting the either the off" or
the "of" pretty much renders the headline uninterpretable for me:

Lenders Back Off Environmental Risks

Lenders Back of Environmental Risks

--
-Wilson
–––
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"––a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
–Mark Twain


On Mon, Aug 30, 2010 at 10:13 PM, David Wake <dnwake at gmail.com> wrote:
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> Sender: Â  Â  Â  American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster: Â  Â  Â  David Wake <dnwake at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject: Â  Â  Â "off of" in NYT headline
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> http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/31/business/energy-environment/31coal.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
>
> I've spotted this collocation a few times in the text of weekend
> editions, but never in a headline, and never on a weekday. Â I wonder
> whether this marks an official change in house style, or merely a
> change in staff among the copyeditors?
>
> David
>
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