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[sevenlayermuddle]

This just occurred to me. I assume we all know the significance of...

Pieces of eight, pieces of eight, pieces of seven, pieces of eight?

Pedants may prefer “pieces of nine” as the exception, rather than seven, but above is how my generation was taught.

[4candles]

AFAICR 'off' is usually used when, say, ordering a list of parts by phone eg
Widgets 20 off, Wotsits 15 off etc to make it clear that these are quantities.

Similar to writing a spec and saying eg "...there shall be 6 (No) wotsits provided on this contract."

[sevenlayermuddle]

I've been searching online, found a few other random forums discussing this same thing phenomenon.  And just as here, some correspondents supporting 'off' with a number, others disbelieving.

I've also been checking online dictionaries, quite hard to find anything at all.  But at last, I see it's in this Collins edition...

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/off

16.  business
(used with a preceding number) indicating the number of items required or produced
please supply 100 off

[tickmike]

Off

When I used to order components it was always 'off'

It was used in Engineering drawings a lot as well
eg
Parts list
Screws
6BA = 50 off
4BA = 200 off.
2BA = 10 off
etc.

[g3uiss]

BA screws bring back memories for a long time ago