[General] "take my mind off" or "take my mind off of"?

[vil]

Dear teachers,

Would you be kind enough to help me to get a better understanding by usage of the expression “take my mind off”.

There are the following sentences in the English language:

I can’t take my mind off you.
What can I do to take my mind off something?
How do I take my mind off the opposite sex?
I can’t take mind off her.

But there are also the following sentences in the same for unexplainable for me reasons too liberal language:

Something to take my mind off of things.
Something to take my mind off of the trucker.
Anything to take my mind off of me.
Your job seems to be causing you a lot of stress. You need to go on a vacation to take your mind off of it.

Thank you for your efforts.

Regards,

V.

[pyoung]

Dear Vil:

They mean exactly the same thing. 'Off of' and 'off' are often interchangeable.
For example, 'Please take the book off (of) the table.' ; 'She took the cover off (of) the pool.'; 'I got off (of) the plane.'

Best wishes,

Petra

[buggles]

Originally Posted by pyoung

Dear Vil:

They mean exactly the same thing. 'Off of' and 'off' are often interchangeable.
For example, 'Please take the book off (of) the table.' ; 'She took the cover off (of) the pool.'; 'I got off (of) the plane.'

Best wishes,

Petra

That's true of American English, but speakers of British English rarely, if ever, use "off of ".

buggles(not a teacher)