I wanted to refocus a related question on ell.se. towards a possible deeper and direct relationship to "on vs. off".
Consider the following two phrases:
- I live off beans and rice. (Approx 94,000 results Google Search)
- I live on beans and rice. (Approx 67,000 results Google Search)
In addition to the subtle difference in meaning, I'm particularly interested in where the semantics of the differences might come from. Can we trace the semantic difference between "live on" and "live off" to a fundamental, "definitional" aspect of "on vs. off"?
Below, I've answered my own question as an afterthought. It was additional thoughts that needed to be moved to an answer, and is in no way intended to be definitive.
Best Answer
After reviewing some anecdotal examples, I'm proposing a possible answer, called On vs. Off: The Zombie vs. Leech Theory of Grammatical Usage1 . "On" seems to have a connotation of active and pursuing while "off" seems to have a connotation of passive or required. (The other usage is the literal, location-oriented definition.)
PART 1: Zombie Vs. Leech Theory
The following is the most vivid example of Zombie Vs. Leech:
What's the difference between a zombie and a leech? Here are a few anecdotal examples:
Part 2: Knowledge Influences Semantic Interpretation
I need to get closer to the "ground of meaning" of the words "off" and "on". Here are some more simple and (relatively) objective scenarios.
1 Disclaimer: This post is a very informal exploration of an idea. This is "original content" in the wikipedia sense: It's not based on anything other than my own thoughts, and surely suffers any and all bias that comes with that.