go off v. go down

[Russula emetica]

Dear all,

Here's another series of the confusing pharasal verb pairs:

go down 6 (informal) to get worse in quality
The neighbourhood has gone down a lot recently.
go off 7 (BrE) to get worse in quality
Her books have gone off in recent years.

Are they interchangeable? Can we just change the prepositions in these two sentences without damaging the meaning?

Thank you.

 

[Franco-filly]

No, and personally I don't think I would use "go/gone off" when talking about books.

 

[Russula emetica]

The examples are taken from the OALD.

 

[boozer]

The neighbourhood going down tells me that it has gone down in social status (i.e. there is some actual descent, albeit figurative) and has become less attractive for some reason.

I would not use the second one to describe books - I agree with FF above. 'Go off' has the suggestion of something going 'bad', e.g. milk.

 

[Russula emetica]

No, and personally I don't think I would use "go/gone off" when talking about books.

Could you think of a reason why they are not interchangeable?

 

[heypresto]

Because they have different meanings.

 

[sound shift]

I would not use the second one to describe books - I agree with FF above. 'Go off' has the suggestion of something going 'bad', e.g. milk.

I agree with the two of you.

Furthermore, "The neighbourhood has gone down a lot recently" sounds a bit strange to me; I would say "The neighbourhood has really gone downhill recently."

Not the OALD's finest moment, even when we allow for the fact that there isn't enough room in dictionaries for every last nuance, every possible comment about usage, etc.

 

[Russula emetica]

Because they have different meanings.

Sorry, but:

go down 6 (informal) to get worse in quality
go off 7 (BrE) to get worse in quality

I don't know how to make my question any more clearer.

 

[sound shift]

You need to allow for the fact that there are few real synonyms; that there may be differences of usage and nuance between words and expressions for which a dictionary gives the same definition. Dictionaries are just starting points; they can only take you so far.

 

[boozer]

It occurs to me that 'her books have gone off' seems to tell me their quality deteriorated while they were lying on the shelves... In fact, I find it amusing. Which is not to say I question the validity of the dictionary example - there may be people who would use that expression to mean what the dictionary says.

 

[kentix]

They definitely aren't interchangeable in American English. The second one is noted as BrE.

We would generally say "the milk has gone bad".

For the author, we would also use the (more correct version) of the first one. "Her books have gone downhill in recent years."

"The neighborhood has gone downhill in recent years."

 

[natkretep]

If you look at the OALD (go-off phrasal verb - Definition, pictures, pronunciation and usage notes | Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary at OxfordLearnersDictionaries.com), the 'go bad' meaning is listed separately (sense 6), the the sense referred to by Russula is sense 7.

6 (British English) if food or drink goes off, it becomes bad and not fit to eat or drink
7 (British English) to get worse in quality
Her books have gone off in recent years.

For me, that sentence means that her books have gone down in popularity. Go down is to do quality and go off is to do with popularity.

 

[kentix]

We just wouldn't say "go off". If someone here "goes off", that means they've lost their temper and are making a scene.

"Wow, I've never seen him go off like that before."

We would say something like, "Her books just aren't as popular as they used to be."