Peter,

The OED links "first off" to a couple of other similar expressions.

From the entry on "off":
  11. Indicating precedence in time, as bang off, right off, straight off: straightaway, forthwith, immediately (see BANG v.1 8d, RIGHT adv. 3b, STRAIGHT adj. 2c). first off, next off: first, next, in sequence (see FIRST adv. 1f, NEXT adj., adv., and n. Compounds 3).

From the entry on "first":
   f. first off: at the first blush, in the first place, to begin with. U.S. colloq.
1880 'MARK TWAIN' Tramp Abroad xx. 193 First-off, I thought it would certainly give me the botts. 1897 W. D. HOWELLS Landlord at Lion's Head 445 First off, you know, I thought I'd sell to the other feller. 1910 W. M. RAINE B. O'Connor 39 Four's right. First off Neil, then the fellow I took to be the Wolf. 1915 Nation (N.Y.) 10 June 646/1 Men of science..no longer admit first off what simple good sense shows to us.

There seems to be no link with "first of all" but rather with other uses of "off."  The expression is at least designated as "colloq."

Herb 

-----Original Message-----
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Peter Adams
Sent: 2009-04-19 12:32
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Grammar help: "First of all,..."

Has anyone else noticed that "first of all" has, for many students,  
morphed into "first off"?

Peter Adams


On Apr 19, 2009, at 8:20 AM, Craig Hancock wrote:

> Scott,
>   It has been called "meta-discourse", discourse about the text as a
> text. It orients the reader to the text itself (rather than the
> subject.) My problem with "first of all" is that it tends to be used
> mechanically.
>   I had a handful of students coming out of the same English as a  
> Second
> language program in a New York city high school who used the term
> "firstable". I thought that was conceptually interesting. Not
> everything is able to be first.
>   Does being first mean most important? Is it background necessary  
> before
> understanding the rest? A preliminary orientation? An arbitrary
> starting point? I usually find it productive to ask those questions.
>
> Craig
>
>>
>
>
> List,
>>
>> What would you call and how would you explain "First of all" (and  
>> similar
>> constructions) as a sentence opener marking the relationship of the
>> following sentence with a previous statement?
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Scott Woods
>>
>>
>>
>>
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