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I was just reading an article about the discovery by archaeologists of evidence of milk fat on pottery shards at sites in Southern England wich would put dairy farming in Britain back to the Iron Age in 4000 B.C.
The term "goes off" was used to describe the milk going sour.
I've never heard this used to mean food spoiling, or going bad, before. Of course, in context, I knew what he meant right away. It's obviously a British usage here. However, "goes off" or "going off" is an expression which means getting angry or losing one's temper in the US (at least in my area of the East Coast) for as far back as I can remember. Can it also mean this in Britain, or is that term used exclusively to connote spoiled food?
Here's the contextual usage:
>While the chemical testing can detect milkfats, Copley said he didn't know exactly how the milk was being used.
However, he added, "when you consider how soon milk goes off, it's most likely they were making butter, cheese or yogurt ... which actually keep a long time." <
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Dear WO'N: I have often heard complaint about food kept in refrigerator too long
hving an :off flavor".
My dictionary as sixth meaning of "off" as an adjective gives:
not up to what is usual, normal, standard, etc. !an off day"
Just as wine was discovered by accident, cheese etc. was undoubtedly found by accident.
Milk would have been so valuable, it would not have been thrown away just because it was
"rotten".
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And, of course, there's also "goes off" as in explosion or timer, etc.
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I am very sensitive to the aging of milk--I have often announced to our household, "You guys better finish up this milk; it's going off." of course it tastes just fine to them--they don't know what I'm going on about.
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Yecch, me too; I can tell by the smell, even. There's a narrow "window" where I can still drink it if it's going, but past that--down the drain it goes. Once when I was a kid, my mother made a batch of cornbread with buttermilk that had gone off, and I could even taste it in that. 
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Pooh-Bah
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"This milk's gone off" is a common expression on this side of the pond - well, not as common as it was before refrigerators became a standard item (rather later over here than over there). We also say "this milk has turned", presumably sour.
My own dislike of sour milk flavour also prevents me from using long-life milk, sterilised milk and evaporated milk. They all taste bad and flavour anything with which they are made. Cream and butter taste similarly rancid to me.
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And this from rkay just two days ago on the "Honkin'" thread!  (cross-threading): >well, in a Britslang moment, I'd have to say it would in any case be impossible for something to be honking smelly as 'honking' means smelly. As in, I think that cheese may have gone off.... oooh, yes, it's absolutely honking.<
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I've never heard 'going off' to mean getting angry. Yes, it's quite common to talk about milk and a few other things (mostly butter, cheese and other dairy products) as having 'gone off'. General British Isles English-speak.
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Pooh-Bah
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I've heard 'sounding off' used to describe someone expressing anger or irritation e.g: What's he sounding off about?
No Jackie, I'm not talking about breaking wind again [evil grin returned-e]
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I'm not talking about breaking wind again
What? You mean like honking?
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