Put off/postpone

[volver]

Hello,


The Xmas party has been postponed till next week.
The Xmas party has been put off .

Can I use both ? Are they both correct ?
If not, could you please tell me in which context I should use put off as I don't know when to use it .


Thank you

VOLVER

 

[winklepicker]

The Xmas party has been postponed till next week.
The Xmas party has been put off .

Can I use both ? Are they both correct ?
If not, could you please tell me in which context I should use put off as I don't know when to use it .

Hi Volver. They are pretty much interchangeable; put off is probably slightly more informal than postponed and perhaps better in speech. In a formal document, certainly, use postponed.

 

[Ecossaise]

To me "postponed" indicates alteration to another time, either stated or implied; "Put off" implies permanency with no indication of possible change.

 

[JamesM]

To me "postponed" indicates alteration to another time, either stated or implied; "Put off" implies permanency with no indication of possible change.

So, are "put off" and "canceled" roughly equivalent for you, or would one indicate more of a chance of the event happening at a later date than the other? I'm just curious.

To me, postponed and "put off", in the context of an event, are interchangeable. I can imagine either one being qualified with "indefinitely" to indicate that the event had not yet been re-scheduled.

 

[mgarizona]

And, to my ears, only 'indefinitely'

If you 'put off the wedding' I understand that you hope to reschedule it at a later date but may end up canceling it altogether.

If you know the wedding will take place next month, then "postponed till next month" or "rescheduled next month" make more sense.

"Put off till next month" sounds very awkward to me.

 

[JamesM]

Now that you put it that way, I agree. "Put off until next month" does sound a little odd, but "put off" until a certain eventuality doesn't to me... "the wedding has been put off until the bankruptcy is finalized" (ugh!) or "the annual meeting has been put off until a new venue is located." In either case, though, "postponed" sounds better to me than "put off."