Off the cuff

Origin of: Off the cuff

Off the cuff

Unrehearsed, impromptu, dates from the 1930s and is of American origin; allegedly derives from speakers making last minute notes on small pieces of paper, which they keep up their sleeve and to which they referred surreptitiously. One doubts that speakers actually wrote notes on the cuffs of their shirts as some ‘folk’ etymologists would have us believe.