"off" in the Big Book

We gave up our positions and off we roared on a motorcycle, the sidecar stuffed with tent, blankets, a change of clothes, and three huge volumes of a finan-

The curve of my declining moral and bodily health fell off like a ski-jump.

Then came the insidious insanity of that first drink, and on Armistice Day 1934, I was off again.

Why can’t he?’’ “Why don’t you drink like a gentleman or quit?’’ “That fellow can’t handle his liquor.’’ “Why don’t you try beer and wine?’’ “Lay off the hard stuff.’’ “His will power must be weak.’’ “He could stop if he wanted to.’’ “She’s such a sweet girl, I should think he’d stop for her sake.’’ “The doctor told him that if he ever drank again it would kill him, but there he is all lit up again.’’ Now these are commonplace observations on drinkers which we hear all the time.

He may start off as a moderate drinker; he may or may not become a continuous hard drinker; but at some stage of his drinking career he begins to lose all control of his liquor consumption, once he starts to drink.

Perhaps he goes to a doctor who gives him morphine or some sedative with which to taper off.

If you draw this fallacious reasoning to the attention of an alcoholic, he will laugh it off, or become irritated and refuse to talk.

If anyone who is showing inability to control his drinking can do the rightabout-face and drink like a gentleman, our hats are off to him.

Here are some of the methods we have tried: Drinking beer only, limiting the number of drinks, never drinking alone, never drinking in the morning, drinking only at home, never having it in the house, never drinking during business hours, drinking only at parties, switching from scotch to brandy, drinking only natural wines, agreeing to resign if ever drunk on the job, taking a trip, not taking a trip, swearing off forever (with and without a solemn oath), taking more physical exercise, reading inspirational books, going to health farms and sanitariums, accepting voluntary commitment to asylums—we could increase the list ad infinitum.

But here is a man who at fifty-five years found he was just where he had left off at thirty.

On through the years this conduct continues, accompanied by his continual promises to be careful or to keep off the streets altogether.

My business came off well, I was pleased and knew my partners would be too.

Not only had I been off guard, I had made no fight whatever against the first drink.

The show doesn’t come off very well.

For when harboring such feelings we shut ourselves off from the sunlight of the Spirit.

It’s so easy to get way off the track.

We hope you are convinced now that God can remove whatever self-will has blocked you off from Him.

We are there to sweep off our side of the street, realizing that nothing worth while

We have not even sworn off.

You should not be offended if he wants to call it off, for he has helped you more than you have helped him.

Nothing will help the man who is off on a spiritual tangent so much as the wife who adopts a sane spiritual program, making a better practical use of it.

I pointed out that I had had nothing to drink whatever for three years, and this in the face of difficulties that would have made nine out of ten men drink their heads off.

stand and will not be upset by anything he wishes to say, he will probably be off to a fast start.

Can you charge this off as you would a bad account and start fresh with him?

From a business standpoint, his trip came off badly.

Goes off his head completely when he’s drinking.