Dobrý den,

• to come (off) second best

je možné použít tento idiom bez off uprostřed? Slovníky mluví jasně a nevšiml jsem si použití bez off. Nicméně britské média a někteří mluvčí tuto frázi používají právě bez použití onoho off.

Je to maličkost, ale celkem mě to zajímá…kdyby někdo věděl 🙂

Děkuji 🙂

je možné použít tento idiom bez off uprostřed?

No. You can „come second“ in a race or competition or in some kind of rating or scoring context, but when you add „best“, you need „come off“.

It's important ro realise that „come off“, which can have many meanings, is functioning as a phrasal verb in this meaning, so [come off], and not [come] [+ preposition].

Nicméně britské média a někteří mluvčí tuto frázi používají právě bez použití onoho off.

I wouldn't expect to see that in this specific idiomatic sense of „come off“ (which has many different meanings). If you can quote an example and link to the context, I can try to provide an explanation.

I wouldn't expect to see that in this specific idiomatic sense of „come off“ (which has many different meanings). If you can quote an example and link to the context, I can try to provide an explanation.

As Andy Murray announces his intention to retire, here are his best quotes from a glittering career:

„I don't play in any tournaments to come second best.“

Není to mnoho kontextu, ale tato věta mě přiměla k založení vlákna.

It's not common usage – see the Ngram.

Especially when speaking off the cuff, English-speaking sportspeople don't always speak good English, Czech sportspeople don't always speak good Czech.