# "Out" vs. "Off" **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 19, 2023, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/out-vs-off/981345 "2023-03-19T06:01:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Knighted\_Vorpal\_Sword](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ac91a4/32.png) [@Knighted\_Vorpal\_Sword](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knighted_Vorpal_Sword)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2023, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/out-vs-off/981345/1 "2023-03-19T06:01:56Z")
The light is off. I turned the light off. Turn the lights off! vs. The light is out. I turned the light out. Turn the lights out! Which do you favor? I find myself using “out” most of the time, but I don’t really know why. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2023, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/out-vs-off/981345/2 "2023-03-19T06:06:44Z")
“The light is out” can mean that the light is burned out. ---
**Author:** ![superwombat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superwombat/32/16616_2.png) [@superwombat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/superwombat)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2023, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/out-vs-off/981345/3 "2023-03-19T06:17:34Z")
My French-Canadian extended family uses “Open the light” and “Close the light” I turn the light off. I blow the candle out, though. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2023, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/out-vs-off/981345/4 "2023-03-19T06:23:23Z")
For NFL Monday Night Football fans from the 1970s, the clear favorite is out. Dandy Don was great with it. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/CtGxusvUT3k/hqdefault.jpg "DON MEREDITH - Turn out the lights... the party's over - YouTube4.flv") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtGxusvUT3k) ---
**Author:** ![Knighted\_Vorpal\_Sword](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ac91a4/32.png) [@Knighted\_Vorpal\_Sword](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knighted_Vorpal_Sword)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2023, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/out-vs-off/981345/5 "2023-03-19T06:27:36Z")
For that I’d specifically say “the light is burned out.” ---
**Author:** ![Knighted\_Vorpal\_Sword](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ac91a4/32.png) [@Knighted\_Vorpal\_Sword](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knighted_Vorpal_Sword)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2023, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/out-vs-off/981345/6 "2023-03-19T06:29:14Z")
My Mom and my Grandma, both born and raised in Brooklyn, would say “make out the light.” ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2023, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/out-vs-off/981345/7 "2023-03-19T07:46:35Z")
I have some vague feeling that “outen the lights” is good, based on having been placed in various foster homes in Amish territory (Lancaster, PA) as a little kid until age 3 or 4. But when I was adopted, my parents worked very hard to eliminate all traces of regionalisms from my vocabulary. So I can’t be sure. Anyway, I’d probably say “turn out” and “turn off” pretty interchangeably these days. ---
**Author:** ![Die\_Capacitrix](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/die_capacitrix/32/9_2.png) [@Die\_Capacitrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Die_Capacitrix)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2023, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/out-vs-off/981345/8 "2023-03-19T08:00:08Z")
> [@CairoCarol](#): > > I have some vague feeling that “outen the lights” is good, based on having been placed in various foster homes in Amish territory (Lancaster, PA) as a little kid until age 3 or 4. My mother-in-law, who is from Reading, PA, has a light switch plate which says “Outen the lights”. [This](https://pennsylvaniadutchgifthaus.com/Outen-the-Light-Switch-Plate-Single-p311479351) is not it, but it’s the same saying. > [@Bullitt](#): > > For NFL Monday Night Football fans from the 1970s, the clear favorite is out. My dad will often sing the the first lines of this when it’s time to go. Technically it would be “Turn the switch to the off position.” But few people write or speak that way. ---
**Author:** ![Didi44](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47c2d/32.png) [@Didi44](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Didi44)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2023, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/out-vs-off/981345/9 "2023-03-19T08:23:48Z")
Most of the definitions of “Lights out” refer to a military or other authoritarian command. It dates back to at least the 1940’s when during WWII when lights out and blackout was ordered in the U.S. following the attack on Pearl Harbor. My parents, who were 12 when it happened, talked about having use blackout their windows at night. I suspect that _turning the light out_ or _turning out the light(s)_ predates electricity when candles and lanterns were the source of light. Though candles may be more "putting out the light\* by snuffing it. ---
**Author:** ![Dereknocue67](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6de8d8/32.png) [@Dereknocue67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dereknocue67)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2023, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/out-vs-off/981345/10 "2023-03-19T08:25:17Z")
I don’t have an issue with either expression. A problem would arise if when you turn the light off, it doesn’t go out or vice versa . ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2023, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/out-vs-off/981345/11 "2023-03-19T08:41:59Z")
> [@superwombat](#): > > My French-Canadian extended family uses “Open the light” and “Close the light” That expression is what I always heard in the Philippines. And from a number of Koreans speaking English in Korea. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2023, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/out-vs-off/981345/12 "2023-03-19T10:03:41Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > in the Philippines In Chinese, open / close and switch on / switch off (a light) are the same verb. And the noun (a switch) is an “open-close”. Perhaps the local English usage derives from this. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2023, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/out-vs-off/981345/13 "2023-03-19T12:23:07Z")
> [@Knighted\_Vorpal\_Sword](#): > > I turned the light out. Have never used this form, possibly have never _heard_ that form. (I’ve heard _put_ out the light, but not–I think–outside a deliberate Shakespeare reference.) ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2023, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/out-vs-off/981345/14 "2023-03-19T12:28:02Z")
> [@superwombat](#): > > “Open the light” and “Close the light” I’m not sure which is on or off here. Open the light sort of sounds like on, as in open the curtain, however opening of a lighting circuit would cause the bulb to go out. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2023, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/out-vs-off/981345/15 "2023-03-19T12:30:06Z")
Another issue I have is if the lights are on but nobody is home… > [@Knighted\_Vorpal\_Sword](#): > > The light is off. I turned the light off. Turn the lights off! > vs. > The light is out. I turned the light out. Turn the lights out! > > Which do you favor? I find myself using “out” most of the time, but I don’t really know why. But seriously folks, to me my preference is for the first one. Turn the lights off. With this exception: when the kids were teenagers, at night I would yell _Lights **Out!!** _ ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2023, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/out-vs-off/981345/16 "2023-03-19T12:33:04Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > I’m not sure which is on or off here. Open the light sort of sounds like on, as in open the curtain, however opening of a lighting circuit would cause the bulb to go out. It’s opening and closing the “channel” that allows the flow of electricity that’s being referred to not the physical circuit. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2023, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/out-vs-off/981345/17 "2023-03-19T12:36:59Z")
I’m familiar with the term “lights out” but I think I say “off”. It has a natural opposite: “on”. If you say “turn the lights out” if you want it dark do you say “turn the lights in” when you want light? But English is weird. “My car alarm was going off, so I had to go out to turn it off”. What? ‘Off’ can mean on and off at the same time? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2023, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/out-vs-off/981345/18 "2023-03-19T12:38:35Z")
It depends on whether the music’s over. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2023, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/out-vs-off/981345/19 "2023-03-19T12:42:23Z")
It doesn’t matter. Dandy Don died in 2010. He ain’t singin’ no more. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2023, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/out-vs-off/981345/20 "2023-03-19T12:52:21Z")
I’ve heard tell of a man who could put out the cat, the wine, his cigar **and** the lamps. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/out-vs-off/981345.md?page=2)