Anyone know the origin of this expression?

I don’t know if this is the origin, but I have always considered it a free adaptation of a German idiom: "aus dem Ärmel schütteln".

Brewer’s says the expression speaking off the cuff probably derives from "the habit of some after-dinner speakers of making jottings on their stiff shirt cuffs as ideas occurred to them during the meal."

[quote author=Agoraphile link=board=idiom;num=1036634793;start=0#2 date=11/07/02 at 12:44:08]Brewer’s says the expression speaking off the cuff probably derives from "the habit of some after-dinner speakers of making jottings on their stiff shirt cuffs as ideas occurred to them during the meal."

Wha??

I presume this modest outburst is directed to Dr. Ebenezer Cobham Brewer and/or his heirs, successors and assigns rather than to his humble copyist . . .

[quote author=Agoraphile link=board=idiom;num=1036634793;start=0#2 date=11/07/02 at 12:44:08]Brewer’s says the expression speaking off the cuff probably derives from "the habit of some after-dinner speakers of making jottings on their stiff shirt cuffs as ideas occurred to them during the meal."

That’s the story I heard, too, (and the OED also says "as if from notes made on the shirt cuff") but it never seemed quite right. Off the cuff implies a completely extempore performance - without notes of any kind.

Grant

But perhaps accompanied by a sleight of cuff.  ;)

[quote author=Agoraphile link=board=idiom;num=1036634793;start=0#4 date=11/07/02 at 14:47:59]

I presume this modest outburst is directed to Dr. Ebenezer Cobham Brewer and/or his heirs, successors and assigns rather than to his humble copyist . . .

Neither, sir.  The thought of public speakers writing on their shirtcuffs rather bowled me over.

Perhaps we have our answer?  A public speaker presumably has already prepared his speech—a statement "off the cuff" is less formal and less well-prepared.

Hmmm… not sure that really works, though.  

A more romantic version of <off the cuff> is the Japanese <Fude no soriawase, dani mo tashô no en>, which translates as <Even the [seemingly accidental] brushing of their sleeves is the result of karma>....

Ahh, of course. Sartorial satori.   8)

The dinner speaker analogy is correct. “On the cuff” has fallen out of usage, but originally you could be said to be talking “on” or “off” the cuff.

Origin: 1940–45

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/off-the-cuff?r=66

This term supposedly alludes to the practice of speakers making last-minute notes on the cuff of a shirtsleeve. [1930s]

http://www.answers.com/topic/off-the-cuff

the custom of scribbling extempore remarks on a starched shirt cuff

http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/features/dictionary/DictionaryResults.aspx?refid=1861696958

“On the cuff apparently arose at the turn of the century. Since bartenders commonly wore starched white cuffs at the time, the theory that our term for ‘on credit’ derives from bartenders jotting down the debts of patrons on their cuffs during the rush of business is an appealing one. ‘On the arm’ probably derives from ‘on the cuff,’ while ‘off the cuff,’ unrehearsed or extemporaneous, may come from impromptu notes early Hollywood directors jotted down on their cuffs while shooting a difficult scene in a movie. These ideas, not in the script, were conveyed to the actors when the scene was reshot.” From the “Encylopedia of Word and Phrase Origins” by Robert Hendrickson (Facts on File, New York, 1997).

http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/31/messages/79.html