jamespeek.com

I was recently asked what “Off the chain” meant at an event. I regretted that I did not have an answer. My response was that I was too white to understand what it meant. I searched for a more suitable answer to this question. It actually refers to a slave who has escaped confinement or has been freed from the chains of oppression. It can also refer to a worker who has left the chain of the assembly line and is out having fun.

I always assumed that an African American had created the phrase recently. I can see how someone who understands what it means may take insult by a white person using it in a certain way.

It does prompt me to inspect the roots of other African American vernaculars so that I can properly identify exactly what someone may be saying and understand what contexts may be off limits for me to use.

Here is a reference: http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/off_the_chain