Forum: ell.stackexchange.com
Tags: <usage><american-english><phrasal-verbs>
Title: Is "plugging out" electronic devices an American expression?
Question: Are these valid in American English as opposed to  "unplug" .   Plug out  the charger from the wall.  I  plugged out  my TV.   I found my radio  plugged out.   I started hanging out with some guys of Jamaican descent who were born in Canada and I noticed that they talked about  "plugging out"  their electronic devices rather than  "unplugging"  them. Recently I've begun to hear the same expression from non-Jamaicans.  Anyone have any idea how widespread this is?

Answers:
sents: text: Wiktionary defines the expression plug out as Irish: (Ireland, transitive, colloquial)
text: To unplug; to remove (an electrical device) from its socket. From The Daily Edge : 13 words you'll never hear outside of Ireland... Another uniquely Irish phrase is 'to plug out' as in ' plug out the telly'.
answer_details: author: ell.stackexchange.com/users/29952/user070221
score: 56
sents: text: In America, we use the term "unplug", not "plug out"
answer_details: author: ell.stackexchange.com/users/92728/Kyle Mccoy
score: 34
sents: text: Here in South Africa, we say "plug out" too.
text: I am not sure if this is based on the historical European influence, or that in Afrikaans "uit prop" translates to "plug out" really...
text: In Afrikaans, the words make sense -
text: but I can see how it gets a little non-descriptive in English.
text: It sounds like "rock out" (even though not really great form in my opinion either), so "plug out" tends to convey a slangy feel to me.
text: Nevertheless, we do use it commonly here.
answer_details: author: ell.stackexchange.com/users/92751/Marlon van der Linde
score: 25
sents: text: I work in north eastern Ohio, in a community of Amish people, where the first language is Dutch (not European Dutch - this would be Pennsylvania Dutch, or a regional dialect thereof).
text: Here, I never hear native dutch speakers say "unplug.
text: " It's always "plug out."
text: There are relatively few idioms that are unique to this area, but this is one of those that stood out starkly to me, as I'd never heard this term prior to working in this area.
answer_details: author: ell.stackexchange.com/users/92762/snomsnomsnom
score: 20
sents: text: I am from a community in New York speaking English and Yiddish and I can definitely hear myself say "plug out".
text: I believe this happens because we tend to express things in English the same way we would in express it in Yiddish.
text: There are many more examples where we do it.
text: Yiddish is also somewhat derived from German.
answer_details: author: ell.stackexchange.com/users/83360/isaace
score: 12
sents: text: I came across this phrasing in a Supermicro server's IPMI Virtual Media interface.
text: It looks like this: The plug in/out buttons could easily say "connect/disconnect" and have exactly the same meaning.
text: Company is based in California, USA, but I do not know where their IPMI interface coders are located.
answer_details: author: ell.stackexchange.com/users/25327/Criggie
score: 9

Summary of the answers:
In America, we use the term "unplug", not "plug out" However, I am from a community in New York speaking English and Yiddish and I can definitely hear myself say "plug out".   
The term "plug out" is used in New York and South Africa and in some industry but "unplug" in America is more generic.