off the hook

[amigo]

Excellent!
Thank you,Blacknomi and Marylin. You guys are Off The Hook.

[blacknomi]

That was a good example.
Thank you.

[rolex2413]

The term "off the hook" in regard to telephones does not derive from the fishing term.

The original phones consisted of a box with a device on a cord with which you both spoke into and listened through. On the box was a "hook shaped" piece of metal with which to hang the listening/ mouth piece. As phones evolved, this hook was not only a convenient place in which to hang the mouthpiece but it also closed off the line when the mouthpiece was hung on it. Thereby, if the phone was not hung on the hook the line was left open, and no calls could come into that line. So, the phrase "off the hook" was born.

[retro]

Originally Posted by Casiopea

If you call someone on the telephone, and you get a "busy" signal every time you dial, then there's a possibility that the phone is "off the hook", or off its cradle. That someone or something knocked the receiver off the phone.

If you are in trouble, or have to do something you don't want to do, and something happens that has you no longer in trouble or no longer having to do the thing you didn't want to do, use "I'm off the hook". That idiom comes from fishing. When we fish, we use a hook, and when a fish bites the hook, it's in "trouble". To let the fish "off the hook" to throw it back into the water, is to save the fish's life.

EXAMPLES
John's going to drive us to the movies, so you're off the hook, Dad. You don't have to drive us.

The police caught the real criminal, so that woman they arrested last week is off the hook. She doesn't have to go to jail.

Can we also say the following?
John's willingness to drive us to the movies took/got dad off the hook?