off the record
87
6.8
- idiom
- Literature
:
no para publicación
- The journalist promised that our conversation would remain off the record.
- an off-the-record comment
- go off the record
- an off-the-record interview
And she said off the record, I wouldn't marry him.
- And she said off the record, I wouldn't marry him.
- I'm going to say what what are your thoughts on that off the record?
- We learn things, secret things off the record.
- And while I was there, I just said, let me, let me go meet this guy, see if he'll just meet with me off the record, just meet with me.
- And it was, it was off the record, but just I was struck by the the sheer personal force of this guy.
- They thought, you know, people said, one person said to me off the record at the time, well, they didn't learn their lesson in Afghanistan either.
- And then TMZ had said the ex-wife didn't know that what off the record meant when she was talking to the Daily Mail.
Examples
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Strictly off the record, okay?
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The general rules for off-the-record discourse are well understood by newsmakers, both journalists and their professional sources.
Academic text (2001) -
You said it was off the record.
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- I want to talk to him off the record.
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Well, I can tell you, and it can be off the record if you want...
Blog text (3) -
Off the record, you knew my father.
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Look, this is off the record, but I spoke to the controller this morning.
Fiction book (2000) -
Regular reporters on the beat are occasionally granted off-the-record interviews.
Academic text (2000) -
There is much internal opposition to such a course and much off-the-record criticism of the country's leadership.
Academic text (2007) -
Some interviewees emphasize that their mildly critical comments are off the record.
Academic text (2010)
How Public
Surface Forms
Morphology
The parts 'off' (not on/in) and 'record' (an official account) combine to suggest 'not on the official record', so a learner who knows the words can plausibly infer it means information not meant to be part of a public/official record. However, the phrase relies on pragmatic/journalistic conventions and a slight sense shift of 'off' from inactivity to exclusion, so the exact conventional use and register may not be fully predictable without exposure.
Etymology
Off the record may come from the simple picture of someone stepping away from a reporter's notebook or switching a voice recorder off so their words never reach the official record. That's why it means 'not to be quoted' or shared publicly.