What does "off my case" mean?

Question

What does "off my case" mean? It is the title of a part in a book. I tried to google it and I find "get off my case", meaning "stop nagging me".

The book is called "Case for Christ - for kids" and is a book where the author investigates whether the stories about Jesus in the Bible are true or not.

I have only just begun to read that part of the book, so I cannot say exactly what its about. But it seems to be different stories about kids in different situations together with other kids and they are "doing the right thing". Helping others and sometimes sharing their faith, even to people that have been mean to them.

Answer 1

A quick check on Amazon tells us the following about the book:

The Case for Christ: A Journalist's Personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus (Case for ... Series)

A closer looks shows that there is a series of books on religious faith entitled The Case For......

The expression: The case for... generally means the evidence for or the argument for.

Presumably, the chapter heading that you are referring to is a play on the title of the book and the series.

As you say, off my case is often proceeded by Get and means stop pestering me.

In this case, it is not possible to say how the author is using the chapter heading without reading more. But it might be a way of saying that what follows does not relate to the theme of the book. It's hard to know.

Answer 2

The idioms "the case for/against" and "on/off the case" generally refer to an investigation in order to prove something. A defense lawyer pursues a case for their client, a detective builds the case against a suspect. Their bosses would put them on the case, or if they perform poorly, take them off the case. If someone says, "I can't find my keys!" You might humorously say, "I'm on the case!" before rushing off to search for them.

When outside the context of some actual investigation, "getting on/off someone's case" is a specific usage of this broader sense. This casual slang usually sounds like an immature or rude complaint. It stretches the meaning of investigating to mean nagging or pestering with questions.