take out vs take off

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TheShadow

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Hi,

What's the difference between: Taking my earring out and taking my earring off


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Rover_KE

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You would take it out if you've had your ears pierced and it goes through your ear.

If it's clipped onto your unpierced ear you'd take it off.

Rover
 

emsr2d2

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As a person of the female variety who also has pierced ears, I can confirm that I always say "I need to take my earrings off" even though I have pierced ears. I don't know why. My friends who have pierced noses, belly buttons or certain other, more delicate parts of their anatomy always say "I need to take my xxxx-ring out" but for some reason, my friends and I always say "to take off" when referring to earrings.
 

Odessa Dawn

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I know what 'xxxx' stands for here. However, as you know that there are five letters in that word. Shouldn’t we stick to that five letters when we replace them with x? Also, why do we avoid using asterisks here?


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5jj

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I know what 'xxxx' stands for here. However, as you know that there are five letters in that word.
Well, you do have a vivid imagination. The xxxx stands for 'nose, navel, or part of the body you happen to have ring through'.
 

Tdol

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I know what 'xxxx' stands for here. However, as you know that there are five letters in that word.

Male or female? Polite or slang?
 

Tdol

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I meant:

male- polite or slang
female- polite or slang
 

Barb_D

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I have no idea what OD thought those X's stood for.

But I hope you now understand that they were just placeholders for whatever piercing was being referred to, as 5jj said.
 

5jj

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I have no idea what OD thought those X's stood for.
Well, it seems to be a five-letter word that is polite if used of part of a male's body but slang if used of part of a female's body.

@OD. Can you give us a clue, please?
 

Offroad

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This is funny.:-D
 

Odessa Dawn

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Yes and yes. Your interpretation is clear to the point and exactly what I mean. Thank you for being patient.
 

MikeNewYork

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I know that you have received a variety of responses, but, as a male, "taking earrings out" would describe taking them out of a jewelry box to show them off.
 

5jj

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I know that you have received a variety of responses, but, as a male, "taking earrings out" would describe taking them out of a jewelry box to show them off.
Not to this male. If I heard a woman saying "While I was taking my earrings out ...", I would automatically assume she was removing them from her ears unless she specifically added "out of the jewelry box".
 
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