Thinking outside (but not of) the box

In my editing work I am frequently seeing the word "outside" followed by the word "of." This is just as wrong, in my opinion, as using "of" after "inside."  (Example: He was not outside of the house (acceptable these days), he was inside of the house (still unacceptable.)

I think I know why this has come about.  People use "outside" in a new way these days: to mean "other than," and then it is followed by the word "of" because it would give the wrong meaning if it were not.  (Example: In this exercise class, one person is over 65. Outside OF him there is no one over 50.) If we omitted the word "of" it might give the impression of being outside him: i.e. not inside him.  I would prefer:  Other THAN him there is no one over 50.

Of course we always did use the word "of" after "outside" when "outside was used as a noun: The outside of the box is red.

Let's not use the word "of" after "outside" when it's not a noun.

Just the ramblings (rantings?) of an editor.

Bernard Murphy