come off it

English

Etymology

Originally a British shortening of "come off the grass!", an older (originally American) phrase. Come off the grass!, which is roughly indicative of the speaker's disbelief, or that the speaker believes that the one being spoken to needs to face reality, is ultimately a play on the oft-seen phrase on signs in places such as public parks: "keep off the grass".

Interjection

come off it

1. An expression of disbelief.

   Come off it, mate! You can't be serious.

   • 1984 August 18, Gary Ralph, “Meow, Meow”, in Gay Community News, volume 12, number 6, page 5:

     My palace spies have informed my that a certain tacky queen going by the pseudonym "Joey Ganimeed" has been presuming to offer you the 'facts of life' about gay existence (GCN, August 11, 1984). The next time you see him, tell him from me "Come off it, Mary."

   • 2024 March 6, Philip Oltermann, “A feminist? Oh come off it! Why is Netflix idolising a porn star infamous for scenes of violence to women?”, in The Guardian‎^[1], →ISSN:

     A feminist? Oh come off it! Why is Netflix idolising a porn star infamous for scenes of violence to women? [title]

Synonyms

• come on, horsefeathers, pull the other one; see also Thesaurus:bullshit

Translations

expression of disbelief

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 去你的 (zh) (qù nǐ de)

• Finnish: älä huijaa
• Italian: per piacere (it), ma dai
• Portuguese: (Brazil) fala sério (pt)
• Spanish: qué va (es), venga (es)

Verb

come off it (third-person singular simple present comes off it, present participle coming off it, simple past came off it, past participle come off it)

1. (informal, intransitive) To stop doing something or stop talking about something.

   Oh, come off it with the endless questioning.

   He has to come off it about his Harry Potter fanfic.