[Idiom] key off

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Grumpy

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It's not a phrase I have heard before, but the context ["so pretty soon you start keying off each other.."] makes it clear that it is being used to mean two individuals inspiring one another. It is similar to "bouncing ideas off" one another.
 

MikeNewYork

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euncu

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Thanks for your answers Grumpy and MikeNewYork.

So, can I say from your answers that this is a known phrase in the USA and not in the UK?
 

MikeNewYork

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Thanks for your answers Grumpy and MikeNewYork.

So, can I say from your answers that this is a known phrase in the USA and not in the UK?

It is known in the US, but I wouldn't say it was common.
 

Rover_KE

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So, can I say from your answers that this is a known phrase in the USA and not in the UK?

That would be a questionable generalisation. You've only heard from one person in each country.
 

euncu

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That would be a questionable generalisation. You've only heard from one person in each country.

Well, you may be right in terms of logic but I see our teachers including you as very good represantatives of their languages. It's the advantage of picking from the top shelf.
 

Rover_KE

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You're too kind.:oops:
 

emsr2d2

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It's the advantage of picking from the top shelf.

A shelf which, in the UK, we share with magazines of questionable morality (and ever-diminishing quality). ;-)
 

Tdol

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Thanks for your answers Grumpy and MikeNewYork.

So, can I say from your answers that this is a known phrase in the USA and not in the UK?

If it's a fashionable usage and appears in a few TV series, you can bet that it will start being used in the UK too. ;-)
 
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