Talk:Inner Seas off the West Coast of Scotland

Usage of "off"
I am translating this article. I wanted to make sure about accuracy of usage of "off" in the article title. In "Inner Seas off the West Coast of Scotland" title, does the word "off" (italic) has the normal meaning of "far"? So should it be translated into something meaning "the parts of the inner sea that are far from the west coast?" Alfa80 (talk) 09:19, 26 September 2019 (UTC)
 * Hey Alfa80, this is an incredibly interesting question -- one of those things you might never think about as a native speaker, but once someone points it out, you go "wait, that is weird!" Because the strange truth is that I think its precise meaning is actually the exact opposite: it really means "Inner Seas which are near, but might not be exactly adjacent to, the West Coast of Scotland". I think the most natural example of this usage of "off" comes up in giving informal directions to somebody. Imagine that you are visiting my hometown of Ottawa, and you ask me to help you find the Parliament of Canada. Because (as you can see in this link) Parliament is on a hill that is slightly offset from the nearest street, which is called Wellington Street, I might very naturally say "Parliament is just off Wellington Street" -- or, if I were in a slightly more formal mood, "Parliament is just off of Wellington Street." What this most precisely means is that Parliament is very close to, but not exactly adjacent to, Wellington Street. This entry in the Macmillan dictionary, under definition 7, has 3 great examples. Again, what an interesting question, and let me know if anything is still unclear! - Astrophobe (talk) 20:44, 17 October 2019 (UTC)