Usage of "Get off"

[SkiIucK]

'Get off of the tree!' vs. 'Get off the tree!'
Should 'off' be followed by 'of' or not?

[Yankee]

Well, I would probably say "Get out of the tree" or "Get down from the tree". I doubt I'd use either 'get off' OR 'get off of' unless (possibly) the tree were lying on the ground. :wink:

That said, "off of" is widely used in AmE to mean the same thing as "off".
- "Get off of me!"
- "The vase fell off of the table."

This usage is not new, and may well have arrived in North America with the some of the first British settlers.

Webster's Dictionary categorizes "off of" as an idiom. Here is what Webster's says:

[SkiIucK]

That summarizes it all, thank you very much for the thorough reponse.